Memorybenders
by Yemoya
Summary: Zuko was finally engaged to Katara, and the Fire Nation was thriving. To Sokka designing funny machines and giving them funny names was really fulfilling. Aang spent all of his time in Republic City, talking peace and love. Toph got to imprison and beat up the bad guys. They all had it well. Until Katara thought that yesterday had been the Siege of the North and slapped her fiancé.
1. Chapter 1

_Hi everyone!_

_I wrote the first few chapters of this new fic during Christmas break for apologising for not updating my other stories very often, and not being able to do it at all, now during exam time. _

_This fic might sound serious at first, but it is not intended to be very serious. Which will get clearer in the end of the fic. _

_I hope you like it, and please let me know what you think! _

_I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender, nor its characters. _

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**Chapter One**

Stretching her arms, Katara arched her back off the mattress, a languorous soft screech escaping her lips. With a sigh she let her back fall back onto the bed. Her body felt incredibly good, as if she had bent water for hours before going to sleep.

Warm rays of sunshine caressed her face, and she smiled in a relaxed way. Since Sokka hadn't yelled for her to get up, she was sure she could keep lying in her bedroll for a while longer.

Her brows contorted, wondering why she wasn't lying in her bedroll, but in a warm, very comfy bed.

Her sleepy mind really didn't want to ponder about that, but her responsible part nagged her into opening her eyes. Anyway, when she was lying in a soft bed, her situation couldn't be that bad. Maybe some nice villagers had found her campsite, and not wanting to wake her up, Aang and Sokka had carried her here.

Uh, no. Sokka would have totally woken her up. And villagers didn't have such comfy beds, with silky sheets, which smelled like… Huh, she didn't know that smell, but it was very flowery, and she loved it.

But this situation was still strange, since she had no idea how she had gotten here.

And hadn't they been in the North Pole? And wasn't it cold there?

The invasion, Yue's sacrifice, Aang's powers, ...

And then?

Reluctantly, Katara opened her eyes, hoping that she had just dreamt about the North Pole, and would now know that they had left several weeks ago, had found Aang an earthbending teacher, and were in some very warm part of the Earth Kingdom? Wasn't there a desert there? Katara was positive that she had never been in such a warm place in her life, so it made sense that she was in the desert.

Through an open door, warm wind blew the red curtains into the room, making it possible for the sun to peek through. When Katara's eyes adjusted, she could make out a grassy surface outside with stone ways, and a few trees. Behind that was a stone archway, and behind that, large and tall buildings grew closer to the sky. They were unlike anything Katara had ever seen, as if one had built smaller houses on top of larger ones. But the most unsettling thing was that their roofs were red.

Wide-eyed she sat up, quickly looking across the room.

Red bedsheets, red carpets, red painted walls, brown and black furniture, and many plants standing in large red pots in the corners of the room, and next to the two doors she could see.

The room was larger than any room she had ever seen, probably about one third of her village, and the bed she was lying in seemed to be bigger than the living room in her old igloo.

Katara's mind worked quickly, and she understandingly reacted with screaming in a high-pitched tone, followed by rapid curse words.

How on earth had she ended up in the Fire Nation? Or was this the Fire Nation? Maybe it were only the colonies, and she hadn't known they had travelled so close to them, so getting back to Aang and Sokka might not be that difficult. But that would still mean that they had already left the North Pole, and why couldn't she remember that?

Cursing she noticed that she was only wearing a bright red robe, with a golden trim and belt. Nothing covered her most intimate parts underneath the robe, which wasn't only very short, but was also not even closed.

Suppressing a new screech, so as not to alarm whoever it was who had put her in here, she hurried to cover herself, when the door to the left burst open.

What she saw next, was definitely the craziest and most frightening thing she had ever seen.

A pale, muscular man with tousled, chin long, black hair came storming out of whatever room was behind, his fists alight with fire, as he fell into a bending stance, the flames growing larger and brighter.

"What happened?" he demanded to know, looking frantically around the room.

Katara's jaw went slack, and she blinked two seconds long, while she stared at the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life. He was also the first man she had ever seen naked in her whole life.

That's when not only her cheeks dusted with colour, but she screeched again, scrambling out of the bed, pressing her eyes shut, while she fought with the robe to keep her covered. Once she was sure that nothing besides her legs was shown in an inappropriate way, she held her hands out, her eyes still pressed together.

Oh holy ocean and water spirit, she had just seen his… Gah!

Spirits, what should she do? She had obviously woken up on Fire Nation territory, half naked, with a naked firebender next door! What the heck had happened last night?

Had this man maybe…? She refused to think more about that.

"Uh, Katara?" she heard the man ask in a confused manner. "What happened?"

Swallowing she wished he would put on some clothes, so that she could open her eyes.

"I-I-I…," somehow she seemed to be unable to speak. There was just so much fear clinging in her stomach.

Her first instinct was to drop in a fighting stance, too, and to demand to know where Aang and Sokka were. And what she was doing here. But without any water in her reach, and only very inappropriate clothing, she decided against that. Fighting now would only end in losing the robe. Besides, she didn't want to talk to a naked firebender. Ew.

Not knowing what to say or do instead, she turned her head to the open door, opened her eyes and made a run for it.

Wow, she ran incredibly fast, faster than ever before. Well, she had a clear motivation to run fast.

She darted across the garden, realising there was a pond, and turned around, heading for the source of water. She bent a bubble out of it, and kept it at her side, ready for defence, while she kept running.

"Katara!" she could hear the man shout behind her, but she didn't know, if he was closing in, since her own footsteps, fast heart beating, and rush of blood were already too loud in her ears. She could make out a gate at the end of the garden, and grasped the water bubble tighter to her. Too bad she didn't have her water flask with her.

Frowning she looked down at herself, noticing her breasts were bouncing more than she was used to, while running. Well, she didn't wear her bindings, but her breasts felt more than just freed, they felt heavier, larger.

Maybe she had eaten something strange last night.

She flinched, when a hand landed on her shoulder, and a raspy voice clouded with concern reached her ears. "Katara, what's wro-?", when she pulled her shoulder away, and tried to run faster.

Oh no, he was apparently way faster than her! She wouldn't be able to escape him!

Out of the corner of her eyes she could see him running next to her. What the deep sea? Why was he running next to her, why wasn't he tackling her to the ground or grabbing her arm?

Trying to pick up her pace, she kept her gaze fixed on the gate, which came closer with every second.

"What's going on?" the man asked again. "Can't you tell me what made your run like that?"

It was a reflex. That and she was incredibly surprised at the genuine sound of worry in his voice. That's why she turned her head to look at him running at her right side.

From the fast pace they were running with, the air blew his hair back, revealing the large, reddish purple colour of the burnt skin around his left eye, which was only a slit, golden iris barely visible underneath.

Katara's eyes widened in shock, disbelief and even more fear, when she tumbled over her own feet.

Screaming quietly, she turned around, so that she would land on her side, but two large hands grasped her hips, and pulled her back up and around to face him. He moved her too fast for her to run away, and before she could shove him back, he grasped her wrists, and pulled them up, although she continued to struggle and tried to escape his grip.

"Let me go!" she hissed, but that only made him lower her wrists, holding them close to her body.

"What's wrong?" he asked again. "Katara, what is it? Tell me!" He sounded even more stressed than before, but Katara tried not to pay attention to that.

Her eyes looked around frantically, not wanting to look at him, while she tried to do something to get out of his grip. But with her arms grasped tightly, she couldn't do a lot.

So she did what every sane person would in such a moment. She insulted him. "Let go, you ashmaker!"

His grip loosened a bit, and she pulled again against his hands, but before she could get out, he tightened his grip again. "What's wrong with you?" he shouted, suddenly seeming to be angry.

Narrowing her eyes, she glared up at him, which was a mistake.

The scar, the pale skin, and the golden eyes were all clearly the Fire Prince, but this one was different. He had a full head of hair, chin long, with bangs falling into his face, half obscuring his forehead and eyes, but she could still see them burning like the sun itself.

His cheeks and chin had this raw surface that men who shaved regularly had, and his chin seemed a bit more angular than she remembered. Well, she had only seen him yesterday or the day before, when he had fought her at the spirit oasis, but how had he managed to grow a full head of hair and look so much older within a few days?

And how had they gotten here? They'd been at the North Pole, for spirit's sake!

Maybe this was just a dream. Yeah, it had to be a dream.

Taking a deep breath, Katara tried to reassure herself that this would really be okay. This wasn't even real. Somehow the memory of their fight, and all the fear she had felt, and the worry that Zuko would get away with Aang had all mixed up into this crazy dream of waking up in an older Prince Zuko's bed in the Fire Nation, and seriously, could she just please wake up now, please? If she had to think about this one moment longer, she'd probably throw up.

The prince seemed to notice her calmer demeanour, since he let go of her wrists, but instead of taking a step back, he actually clasped her cheeks, and moved up her face, his own head tilting down towards her.

Her eyes widened in horror, and she couldn't feel the will to move anymore.

"What has gotten into you?" he whispered. "If you…" He actually looked hurt, which made her completely flustered. She had never seen this emotion on his face. "… If you suddenly have a problem with me, then tell me, but don't just say those things!"

Blinking, she kept staring into his face, his confused brows and his pleading golden eyes. This dream seemed so damn real, and it did very confusing things with her normal life. Making the crazy angry jerk a hurt and sensitive, attractive, young man?

But she had to wake up. Now!.

"Pinch me," she said, and flinched at the sound of her own voice. Was this even her voice? It seemed so much deeper than the one she remembered. Clearing her throat, she said it again, but her voice still sounded so deep.

Zuko contorted his brows, and looked even more confused. "What?"

She closed her eyes, counting down from ten. "This is just a dream, so pinch me – Ow!"

"What? You wanted me to pinch you!" he argued.

"But that hurt!" she shouted at him, and got suddenly very desperate, because the pinching hadn't worked.

"Katara? You know, I'm pretty awake," he told her cautiously.

Pressing her lips together Katara shook her head. No. This had to be a dream. Or the spirits had played her a trick. Maybe she was in another dimension.

Thousands of explanations ran through her head, but she couldn't simply accept this. She couldn't talk to this man, as if he hadn't the face of her enemy. As if he hadn't destroyed her village's wall, stolen her necklace, tied her to a tree, got her paralysed, and beat her to unconsciousness at the spirit oasis.

Contorting her brows and narrowing her eyes into a scowl, she moved away from him, shaking her head.

What was happening?

What had happened?

Turning away from him, she moved to reach the gate again.

"Katara!" He grasped her wrist again, but this time she had enough.

Turning around she wound up and punched him in his face, screaming "Let me go!".

He did, and she didn't waste time to look at his face again, but made a run for the gate.

She didn't know where to go, not in the slightest, but she knew it was good, as long as she found an exit. There had to be road signs somewhere out of this… mansion? Just getting away from the Fire Prince seemed to be the most important thing just now.

On the outside of the gate there was a large square, stone floor and dragon statues at the sides. There were also two archways on the right and left side of the square, and Katara decided to run into one, thinking it might give her some cover, if the prince was still chasing after her.

At the end of the archway was a figure. A very familiar figure. Oh gosh, was it really him?

Holding a few scrolls, and paper piles her brother walked in her direction, his clothes his usual blue tunic, and his hair in his usual warrior wolf tail.

Great relief rushed through her, and she felt tears burning behind her eyes. Soon everything would make sense! Her brother was here, Sokka was here, and Sokka always had answers, he always knew what to do!

"Sokka!" she screamed, racing towards him.

He raised his eyebrows. "Katara? What…?"

But then she already collided with him, and wrapped her arms tightly around him, burying her face under his chin.

"What are you doing? You're crushing all my plans! Katara!" Sokka complained, tensing up, and trying to save the scrolls from her hug.

"Oh, Sokka! I'm so happy I have found you!" she mumbled, and wished she could stay in his hug forever. She was too afraid to ever come out of it again.

"Yeah, yeah," Sokka grumbled, and placed his hands on her back, sighing. "Everything's going to be okay."

Frowning at his collarbone Katara noticed a difference on him, too.

He felt way too muscular and broad.

Gasping, she drew back to stare at the man who looked like her older brother.

Shit, what was wrong with the world? Please let all of this be a dream!

"Sokka?" she asked warily.

He frowned at her like only he could, and rolled his eyes like only he could. "Yes. What is it? Please don't tell me you're fighting again, that's getting really annoying."

Her mouth stood a bit open, wondering if maybe she was just missing her dad, and therefore dreamed about the future, in which Sokka would look like Hakoda.

"You look so much like Dad," she whispered, grasping his upper arms.

Sokka blinked at her, but then a grin spread on his lips. "Thanks, sis. Uh, are you okay?"

She laughed dryly, shaking her head. "No, I'm totally not okay. I'm so confused, but I'm pretty sure it's all a dream," she told him, feeling herself getting hysterical. This was not good. She really rarely got hysterical at all. That was more Sokka's thing.

"Okay," he said slowly, then smiled at her in a worrying way. "Why don't you just tell me about your dream?"

Taking a deep breath she straightened herself a bit, gesturing around. "I mean, what else could this be? First of all, why are we in the Fire Nation?" She felt her eyes getting larger, and she knew she must look crazy, but she didn't care. After all, it was her surroundings acting crazy.

"Because of your wedding, duh." Sokka crossed his arms in front of his chest, raising his eyebrow at her.

"M-my wedding?" she stammered, taking a step back. "Who am I going to marry?" she quickly asked, then a thought occurred to her. "Is he a powerful bender?"

Sokka made a thinking face, shrugging. "I suppose so, I mean as head of state he'd have to be, and you're evenly matched, he even managed to…" Then he blinked and stared at her for one moment. "Wait, why are you asking me this? Is this some sort of game?"

"What? No? I'm just… I'm just so confused. I wish I would wake up!" she suddenly screamed, because she had enough of this.

Sokka wasn't supposed to look like that, he was fifteen, for spirit's sake, and Prince Zuko was younger, too!

She was supposed to be in the North Pole, with Sokka and Aang, and the ocean spirit had hopefully killed the Fire Prince along with all those others!

"Do you not want to marry him anymore?" Sokka asked, reaching her even through her disarrayed thoughts.

"What, I… I don't even know who he is!" she shouted, feeling more and more desperate.

Oh no, was she starting to hyperventilate?

"Uh, calm down, okay?" Sokka laid his hands on her shoulders, trying to make her look at him, but she refused to. "Hey, it's okay. Just talk to me, Katara. We'll find a solution. I'm sure he wouldn't mind waiting with the wedding, hm?"

"You're not supposed to look like this," she whispered, then shook her head. "Please take me back. Please help me. I don't want to dream anymore!" she cried, feeling now the tears streaming down her cheeks.

Through the watery blur she still managed to see how Sokka's face screwed up in concern, how he looked completely helpless.

"Katara?"

_He_ was there.

Right behind her.

"No!" she screeched, crushing into Sokka's chest, just wanting to get away from him! Why was he following her like that? Why was he still sounding concerned? She had punched him, he was the enemy!

"Go away!" she shouted, struggling with Sokka, who was trying to calm her down. "No! No! No! Go! Go away! Leave me alone! Let me go! I just want to go!" she cried, while more tears streamed down her cheeks, and she noticed her voice grew husky, and her nose got runny.

"Zuko! Do something!" Sokka yelled, and that was when she noticed she couldn't trust this Sokka, and tried to free herself from his grip.

"I don't know what!" The prince answered, distress obvious in his voice.

"But I do!" A girl's voice sounded, and out of reflex Katara wanted to turn around to see who the new voice belonged to, but before that was possible, she felt a blinding poisoning pain on her head, her field of sight getting dark spots at the edges.

"Toph! I'm going to-," the prince raged, but she didn't understand the rest, as her whole world went dark. Maybe she was going back to sleep. Maybe she would wake up in the North Pole again.

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_You can expect the next chapter to be published at the end of the week. _

_Please, let me know what you think and review!:D _


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi everyone!_

_I was positively surprised for the answers I got for this fic after only one chapter, and I want to thank everyone who reviewed, favourited, or followed! Thank you so much, that made me really happy!:D _

_So, as promised, at the end of this week, here's the next chapter. Sorry to those who live somewhere where it's already Monday... _

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**Chapter Two**

Katara woke up to a searing pain on her head. Someone was probably burning her head from the inside out.

Groaning, she rolled around, burying her head deeper in the pillows.

"Oh, you're awake," a girl's voice said next to her.

Katara didn't feel like being awake a lot. And she definitely didn't want to be awake just now. She could really use some more hours of sleep.

"Here. Use this to heal yourself," the girl said, her voice a mix of demanding and apologising.

Shaking her head was no good idea, as Katara noticed, when the pain only increased. Groaning she tried to sit up in this soft and warm bed. Could she maybe stay in here forever?

Pillows were there to hold her upright, which she could lean against, and sighing she slowly let her head touch them.

"What?" she murmured, and cried out, when her wrist was grasped and her hand landed in a pool of water.

"There. Now heal yourself!" the girl snarled now.

Katara really much wanted to snarl back that she didn't like to be snarled at. Who did this girl even think she was?

But to retort she needed to feel better. Sighing she wrapped her hand in a water glove and held it up to her head, healing the bruise and… Did she have a concussion? Great.

The pain slowly faded, and with that Katara's senses seemed to work better, her surroundings became clearer to her. It was very warm, the bed was very soft, and birds chirped somewhere close. Maybe the window was open. Or she was lying in a tent.

Guiding the water back into the bowl, Katara opened her eyes, and wanted to close them again an instant later.

She was back in the bed she had woken up in. She was still in the Fire Nation.

"No! No, no, no, no, noooooo!" Katara hastily wanted to scramble out of bed, but… she was tied against the bedposts.

What the deep sea?

"Man, would you shut up? What's your problem anyway?" the same girl's voice came from the right next to the bed.

Katara whipped her head around, narrowing her eyes.

She seemed to be a few years older than Katara, and sat in a brown armchair with red bolster, her arms crossed and one leg lying on top of the other thigh. Her hair was black and put in a giant bun with bangs falling into her pale face, obscuring her eyes.

"Who are you?" Katara asked, making the girl sit up straight and blinking.

"You don't know?" she asked, sounding unbelievable.

Katara furrowed her eyebrows. Should she know that girl? Shaking her head, she said "No".

The girl raised her eyebrows, bit down on her lip, and then blew her bangs out of her face. Her eyes were incredibly pale. "Phew, this is bad," she just said, leaning forward. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Katara didn't ask herself if she could trust this girl, because she didn't want to seem to harm her, only seemed to be concerned about her, so Katara chose to answer her. Maybe her questions could be answered in this way, too. "That we defeated the Fire Navy at the North Pole. I don't know how I got here."

"Oh shit," the girl said seriously, laughing in a dry manner and shaking her head.

"What? What's going on?" Katara asked in a stressed way, pulling at her bonds again. Why had she been restrained? This was really outrageous!

"SOKKA! AANG! Come in here!"

Flinching Katara wanted to cover her ears, but wasn't fast enough, and she got tangled up in those bonds. Urgh!

While glaring at her tied wrists, she noticed that she was wearing something else than before. She seemed to wear underwear this time, but it was not wrapped around her, as she was used for it to be, and a soft, beautiful tunic covered the rest of her upper body, leaving her arms free from the elbow. The tunic had a violet colour, and Katara could feel that she was wearing pants underneath, but with the blanket over her legs she couldn't see what colour they were.

The door on the opposite side of the bed was pushed open, followed by a gust of wind, and a whirl of orange, as Katara was suddenly staring into Aang's grey eyes.

"What is it?" he asked worriedly, whipping his head around to the older girl. "Is she okay, Toph? Why did you call us? Is there an emergency?"

Noticing that Sokka had come into the room, too, Katara looked in his direction only to see _him _standing in the door. Swallowing Katara shifted back on the mattress, even though her back was already leaned against the rest.

"Not you, Hotman," the older girl demanded, and Katara's eyes widened in surprise, when the prince stopped, and frowned at the girl.

"Toph…"

"No!"

Katara looked back at the girl, whose head wasn't even turned in the prince's direction. She seemed to stare at nothing in particular.

"Not yet! Close the door!" she shouted, and Katara stared in surprise, as the prince turned around, after glaring at her, and closed the door. How was that possible?

Sokka stood at the end of the bed, his arms crossed, while Aang was bouncing on the balls of his feet, his hands clasped in front of him. It was funny to see how this Aang, an older version of himself, just like everyone else, was still behaving like the twelve-year-old boy she knew. Maybe this meant that he was, in fact, still that boy, and soon everything would again make sense.

His voice had shocked her earlier, so deep like a rumble, although it had been higher in his worry, and for a moment she hadn't even recognised him.

Only because that girl, whose name was apparently Toph (what kind of name was that?) had yelled for him to come in, because of his yellow and orange robe, the arrow on his head, and the colour of his eyes had she recognised him. He was so much taller than she remembered, broader, and his face had lost all baby fat, showing high cheekbones, and an angular jaw.

"Aang," Katara whispered. "Is that really you?"

His eyes widened, and his eyebrows shot up. "Yeah, why? Do I have something on my face?" He checked it, as well as his head to see if there was something which made him look unrecognisable.

Quickly Katara shook her head. "No, it's just that you look so old."

Aang blinked, but then he smiled. "Yeah, I laugh pretty often, so I probably get wrinkles around my mouth and eyes fast." He trailed the line of his imagined wrinkles on his face.

Huh, that was definitely Aang, although he looked as if he was in his later teens already. Maybe he was already twenty years old!

"Okay, Toph, have you got any idea what happened?" Sokka leaned forward, raising one eyebrow and stared almost threateningly at Toph.

Katara sat up straighter, wanting to hear what it was that the girl would say.

Toph took a deep breath and moistened her lips. "Alright. This will sound crazy. But Katara doesn't know who I am."

So she should know who Toph was? Why?

Sokka was frowning at them both, while Aang's jaw went slack, and he gasped in a shocked way.

Feeling her stomach doing crazy things, Katara leaned back a bit, holding her breath.

"She, in fact, doesn't remember anything from the last seven years," Toph went on.

Blinking, Katara tensed immediately, but also quickly shook her head. "What? No! There has to be another explanation!"

Looking at Aang, she saw that he felt rather uncomfortable, but she leaned in his direction nonetheless. "You are the bridge between the worlds. Please tell me that something's off with my spirit, that I don't belong here. Take me back!"

"Where do you think you belong?" Aang asked instead, tentatively, his eyes wide.

"I… I think that I was last at the North Pole. Maybe a day or two after the siege?" Searching through her memories, Katara noticed that there was indeed something off with them. How was it she didn't even remember everything that had happened after the battle? The battle itself was very clear in her head, but the restoration and the rescue of the injured soldiers were only like a blur in her mind. There were specks of situations shattered across her mind, but she couldn't order them in a chronological way. The more she tried to remember about the days after the siege the blurrier everything became, until she couldn't see anything.

It hurt.

Groaning quietly she pressed her hands against her head.

"Don't try to force it," Aang told her, and sat suddenly next to her, gently guiding her hands away from her head, and laying an arm around her shoulder.

Even though it felt more like her dad's embrace now, she still associated this feeling with Aang. His scent and the fabric of his clothes were still all the same, so it was easy to relax in there, to calm down a bit, until her head wasn't screaming anymore.

"Crap," Sokka said, staring at her, as if he could find a solution by doing this.

"Yep. This will be super awkward, I mean, can you imagine her face, when we'll tell her that…," Toph started, but Sokka quickly shushed her.

"This is a mental illness, Toph!" he barked. "We'll have to be careful about what we tell her. If we say the wrong thing it could get worse!"

"Really?" The girl raised her eyebrows and seemed to look amused. "I think we should just not force her to remember. But how do you think will she manage daily life, if we don't tell her about her daily life?" she snarled, turning her head in Sokka's direction.

While Sokka and Toph argued about how to treat her, Katara only buried herself deeper in Aang's hug, rolling into herself. She couldn't believe what just happened. She couldn't believe this was true.

That meant she was… twenty-one years old!

How could that be?

"Guys!" Aang interjected Sokka's and Toph's bickering, his voice loud but calm. "Do you have any idea why this happened?"

Staring at him, Sokka seemed to be at a loss for words, while Toph only shrugged. "I don't know, Twinkletoes. She seemed normal, when I talked to her yesterday. I didn't sense anything strange, and her body feels normal now, too."

Katara scrunched up her nose at that choice of words. How would she know how Katara's body felt like?

Who had even changed her clothes? Although she didn't know Toph, she really hoped it was her who'd done that.

Closing her eyes, she tried not to think about this too much, but to concentrate on the important things. She couldn't hide in Aang's hug forever, after all. So she took a deep breath and straightened up, looking at the three adults.

"So, I'm twenty-one years old?" she asked cautiously.

All three nodded in return.

Taking a sharp breath, Katara let it sink in. Phew, twenty-one! That was old!

"And seven years have passed since the Siege of the North Pole?" she probed further, fearing the answer.

Again, all three nodded.

"Okay," Katara whispered, trying to sort through all the questions she had in her mind. "Who are you?" she addressed Toph, since it was the next obvious thing to ask.

"I'm Toph Beifong. And I'm Aang's earthbending teacher," she introduced herself.

"Was," Aang corrected, sounding offended.

"I'm your teacher, until you master earthbending!" Toph explained nonchalantly.

"I already mastered it! Seven years ago!" Aang murmured in an annoyed way.

"Nope. Your earthbending could still do with some improvement."

Aang pouted and looked off to the side.

Katara blinked. "Uh-huh. So we found an earthbending teacher for Aang not long after the siege?" she asked hopefully. If it had been seven years ago, it could still be before or after the comet, but she really hoped it had been right after the siege, so Aang had had still enough time to learn firebending, too.

Sokka nodded. "Well, a few weeks later. We had to travel to the Southern Earth Kingdom."

Katara nodded. "Okay. And then, what happened then?" She needed to know exactly what she had missed. Being without her memories was frightening in any sense.

"Sokka had a plan to defeat the Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom got conquered by Azula. We tried it anyway, but failed, then Aang learned firebending, and we won," Toph said, shrugging, but smirking smugly.

Katara blinked. She was pretty sure there was much more to it.

"You're horrible at telling stories," Aang pointed out.

Toph's facial expression changed, and her eyes widened. "Well, you're horrible at listening to them!"

"Katara!" Sokka addressed her, getting her attention. "Are you sure you want to know now? Don't you think it would be better for you to rest, and then maybe all your memories will come back?"

Toph scoffed. "That could take way more time than she's got."

Sokka shushed her again, looking questioningly at Katara, who tried to look determined. She needed those memories. She needed to know what had happened! How could Sokka expect her to rest without even knowing why she was here?

"I need to know," she answered, steeling her gaze with which she was staring at her elder brother.

Sokka sighed. "Alright. Well, Toph is right, but… there's more to just that, and…" Suddenly he groaned and smacked his palm to his forehead. "Where are the Ember Island Players when we need them?"

He was met with a chorus of disgusted and excited sounds.

"NOOOO! They made me a woman! Sokka, stop! This play was horrible!" complained Aang.

"YAAAY! That was the best play ever! I wouldn't have cast my role any other way!" exclaimed Toph, throwing one fist into the air.

Aang only growled at her.

Sokka raised an eyebrow at Aang's behaviour. "I thought you would have gotten over that by now."

With that a sheepish grin spread on Aang's face and he rubbed his neck. "Yeah, sure. I, uh, did that."

"Hey!" Katara interrupted. Spirits, those two hadn't changed at all during the span of seven years. "What happened after the North Pole?"

Sokka took a deep breath. "Alright, well, a lot happened after that. But, uh, well, we noticed that Aang had big trouble controlling the Avatar state, then we went to find Bumi, but Omashu was conquered by the Fire Nation, and we had to leave again. Oh, and we were attacked by Princess Azula for the first time, she's Zuko's sister."

Katara grimaced at the casual way Sokka said his name, but then again they had waited together in front of her door, while only Toph had been here, so there couldn't be that big of an animosity left.

"Then we found Toph in Gaoling. She was okay with teaching Aang, after we invited ourselves to her home, and she and Aang smashed each other with food."

Toph grinned in a very evil way, while Aang flinched and smiled sheepishly at Katara. She knew he didn't like these moments, when he lost all his calm, and would do something like throwing food at someone else. "Toph provoked me," he apologised.

Toph nodded, "Sure did."

"Anyway…," Sokka stressed it and glared at Aang and Toph for interrupting. "We later found an old library, where we found out about the fact that firebenders cannot firebend during a solar eclipse. Just as it was at the North Pole, when the moon turned red." He intensified his gaze on Katara. "You remember that, right?"

She nodded. "Yep. It feels like three days ago."

Grimacing Sokka went on. "We also researched when the next solar eclipse would be, and it turned out to be a few weeks before Sozin's comet. We wanted Aang to fight the Fire Lord during the eclipse, so that he didn't need to learn firebending, and we went to Ba Sing Se to ask the Earth King for military help. We planned an invasion."

Katara's eyes grew wide. Wow, that was something huge.

"I hate Ba Sing Se," Toph muttered under her breath, and Sokka threw her a glare again. But it seemed as if the smaller girl didn't even notice that.

"But, yep, Ba Sing Se was difficult. We actually found out it was corrupted, and by the time we had the Earth King's help, and prepared for the invasion, Princess Azula conquered the city. She had infiltrated it, pretending to be a Kyoshi Warrior," he added with disgust and anger obvious in his voice. "… and defeated us from within. Oh, and she almost killed Aang."  
"What?" Katara screeched, turning towards her friend, who held his hands up, trying to appease her.

"Hey, no, I'm fine. You saved me," he rambled.

"I did?"

"Yes."

Looking into his greyish brown eyes, Katara smiled. Of course, she had saved him. She would always save him, because she couldn't let anything happen to him. He was her friend, and she felt very strongly protective about him.

"But," Sokka raised a finger. "… everyone else thought Aang had died." He grinned like an idiot.

Aang groaned. "I still don't like that."

Sokka shrugged. "You gotta live with it. We hid in the Fire Nation for the next few weeks to learn more about the enemy, and travelled to the post we would meet with the invasion fleet. That was only our warriors, and some few allies from the Earth Kingdom. Haru?"

Katara perked up. Finally someone she knew! "Yes, he helped us?"

Sokka nodded. "Yep. Brought his father and other earthbenders with him. But the invasion plan failed."

Aang looked at Katara, who started to feel more and more confused, and who was also not happy to find out that Aang's first attempt at defeating the Fire Lord had failed. Had he maybe hurt Aang?

"Yeah, Azula had known all along about the invasion plan, and we didn't even get to the Fire Lord," Aang went on.

Nodding Sokka closed his eyes, raising one finger. "So we had to flee. We flew to the Western Air Temple, where Zuko waited for us…"

Narrowing her eyes, Katara clenched her hands to fists. Of course he would. It was already strange that Sokka hadn't mentioned him following them through the Earth Kingdom after the siege of the North. But then again, it was probably so obvious they had been followed by the prince that Sokka didn't even need to point it out.

"… and apologised for all the bad things he had done. He had changed, and wanted to help us end the war. He taught Aang firebending and…" Badly imitating some firebending moves, Sokka froze, when Katara shouted "What?"

Her eyes were large and she felt again like her whole world had turned upside down.

Aang grimaced. "Oh no."

Toph cackled. "Oh, this will be hilarious!"

Sokka rubbed his neck. "Yep, he… was serious and honest about it."

Katara shot him a deadpan look, not looking convinced at all.

"Yeah, without him, we would have never won the war," Aang added, turning his grey, trusting eyes back at her.

Well, Aang liked to be friends with everyone, and of course he would say that, but Sokka? The evil prince had even her paranoid, hating-firebenders-guts, sceptical brother convinced? Had they been brain washed or something?

"He was also very fun to be around," Toph added, grinning to herself.

Katara stared at her in shock and disgust. Fun?

Then Sokka started to laugh, too. "Oh yeah, he was often so angry, it was real fun to provoke him."

Aang curled in himself a bit. "I didn't like it when you made fun of him. He only started shouting, and that reminded me of him when he hadn't wanted to be friends yet."

Rolling his eyes, Sokka waved this comment away.

Okay, so suddenly all of her friends were best buddies with the enemy? Katara could deal with that. People could change.

"Does that mean Zuko hasn't even been as evil as we had thought?" she tentatively asked, because people couldn't change that drastically from devilish evil to angelic good.

Sokka nodded then. "Yeah, he was just desperate. And angry. But not evil. He even saved Appa, when we were still enemies once."

That only made Katara laugh. Yeah, sure, saving Appa said so many things about his personality! Who wouldn't save Appa? He was a giant fluff ball, who looked cute, but could also be terrifying. "Wow! So in a lifetime of evil he didn't add animal cruelty to the list! He should get a medal!" Katara scoffed and glared off to the side. She couldn't believe them just like that. Maybe she was in a parallel universe, after all.

Sokka actually started cackling like only he could. It really sounded awful, and Katara wished she would have kept her mouth shut. "Oh spirits, Katara! That's exactly what I said, haha!"

Katara smiled at her brother, shrugging. Then if he had said that, how could he have believed him nonetheless?

"We all had our problems believing him," Aang said. "But when we were later attacked by a Fire Nation assassin, Zuko saved us."

"What? I saved us!" Sokka shrieked, going all in Aang's space, who shifted back with wide eyes. "Zuko only helped!" Sokka gritted out between his teeth, his nose pushing against Aang's.

Katara leaned a bit back from them.

"Okay, okay!" Aang held up his hands. "You saved us. Your boomerang was really helpful."  
Narrowing his eyes further, Sokka slowly drew back, and Katara couldn't help but smile. Although seven years had apparently passed, those two hadn't changed at all, and she was very grateful for that. Even though she had wished Sokka could behave more like an adult, she was very glad that he had stayed how he was, even now with twenty-two.

Sokka took a deep breath to calm himself, and went back into story-telling mode. "So then, Zuko taught Aang firebending. Then Zuko and I went to free Dad and Suki from the most secured Fire Nation prison there was, haha! Take that, prison breaker," he grinned at Katara, who rolled her eyes.

"What? The prison was in the middle of the ocean. It wasn't easy to get out of there," she defended herself.

"Well, ours was in the middle of a boiling lake, and we could only escape with a gondola… We didn't even have Appa, and were surrounded by Fire Nation, since almost all the inmates were Fire Nation, too!" Raising his eyebrows and widening his eyes Sokka gave her his "Take that" expression.

Choosing to ignore what he said, she brought the topic back up. "So, Zuko saved our dad from prison?"

Sokka nodded. "Yep. That was so cool. You guys should have seen Suki run over those heads, or Zuko jumping to the gondola."

Toph snorted.

"Sorry," Sokka said.

"What?" Katara asked, feeling confused.

Aang and Sokka looked at each other, while Toph kept staring ahead. Blowing the fringe out of her face, she gestured to her eyes. "I'm blind." Then she crossed her arms and huffed. "And I've never been on a field trip with Zuko."

Katara blinked. "You are blind? But you seem to know where everything is. You laid my arm in the water bowl earlier."

"Yep. I sense vibration through the earth with earthbending, and know where everything is located," she explained, as if she had already done that a thousand times. Which she probably had.

Katara flinched, hoping she hadn't insulted or annoyed the girl too much.

Sokka and Aang again exchanged a glance, and Katara wished she knew what it meant, when Sokka went on. "Zuko told us about his father's plan to incinerate the Earth Kingdom on the day of Sozin's comet. Ozai wanted to burn everything and make himself the supreme ruler of the leftovers. Suki, Toph, and I stopped the fleet of airships, which were going to rain fire on the Earth Kingdom, Aang fought the Fire Lord and took his bending away."

"What? You can do that?" Katara felt her eyes widen, and she could only stare at her friend in shock. She had never known! After having fused with the spirit of the ocean, she had thought this would be the most powerful he could become.

"Yep. A giant lion-turtle taught me right before the battle. I actually needed to bend the Fire Lord's energy, and…"

"Wait! What did I do on that day?" Katara interrupted again.

Aang twisted his mouth in annoyance.

"You fought Azula together with Zuko," Sokka answered. "Azula should become Fire Lord, but you hindered her, she and Zuko fought an Agni Kai…"

"What's that?"

"Oh, a firebending duel. But Azula violated the rules, because she attacked you. She threw lightning at you…"

"But Zuko jumped in front of you and saved you!" Aang exclaimed, beaming at Katara, who's jaw was slack.

"And nearly died," Toph added.

"But you defeated Azula with a master plan of ice and chains and healed Zuko, so everything was fine!" Sokka finished, grinning widely.

Katara tried really hard to understand everything they had said, but that wasn't possible, for they were saying so many things at the same time and so many things which didn't make sense, and her mind was also totally overloaded, but what worried her most was that nothing about all of this seemed familiar to her.

She made her friends recount the story, until she had it memorised, until she didn't mix up the chronology of the events anymore. It was just all so much! All of these things had apparently happened after the siege, in the same year, before the end of summer! It was really hard to grasp it, and even harder to believe it.

When she was sure she wouldn't forget anything important, she held her wrists up. "Why am I tied up?"

Sokka and Aang grimaced, while Toph grinned.

"Well… you weren't exactly calm, when you were awake earlier, and we didn't want you to hurt someone or yourself, if you would freak out again," Sokka explained, but was gracious enough to look sorry.

"Then could you untie me now? I'm calm, aren't I?" she asked. "Somehow I've forgotten overnight about the last seven years, but I haven't freaked out, have I?"

"Only shrieked way too much," Toph thought she had to say.

Katara shot her a glare. "Well, everything is completely different!"

"Actually…" Aang rubbed his neck. "We wanted to leave you tied up, until we had told you something else. Not that I wanted to!" He held his hands up, his eyes large with indignation. "That was all Sokka's idea!"

"That's not true, that one guard proposed it, and I thought the idea wasn't bad!" Sokka barked, defending himself, but also looked at Katara in an apologising way.

She raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Then would you please tell me the other things, so you can get those bonds off?"

Sokka wrinkled his nose.

"Can I, can I, can I tell her? Please?" Toph begged, her smile way too mischievous for Katara's liking.

This probably meant she wouldn't quite like what she had to hear next.

"Toph!" Sokka scolded, sounding stern and reminded her very much of Hakoda, when he scolded Sokka.

"This isn't funny," Aang agreed, leaning towards the blind earthbender.

She only snorted. "It totally is. I mean, I'm kind of sorry for Hotpants, but imagine her face!" Grinning widely she looked in Katara's direction.

"You can't even see my face." Sniffing Katara folded her arms in front of her chest, which was still unfamiliarly large.

"That's why I gotta imagine it," Tops replied, still grinning widely.

Sokka sighed. "Oh, this is going to be bad."

"Just tell me already!" Katara shouted, pulling at the bonds again. She had no desire to be restrained to a bedpost for any time longer, and she really wanted to know what it was that they were keeping from her.

"Well, you remember when I said we are in the Fire Nation because of your wedding?" Sokka asked, rubbing his neck, and taking a step back.

Katara shortly glanced at Aang, who looked expectantly at her. So had Aunt Wu been right? Was she going to marry Aang?

She nodded. "Yes, you said he is a powerful bender," she went on, and tried not to think about the fact she had woken up in the Fire Prince's bed. Had she cheated on Aang? What horrible person had she become?

Wait, why did they marry in the Fire Nation? Why not back home, in the South Pole?

Sokka nodded, humming. "Yeah, so, you see. Four years ago, Aang decided to stay in Cranefish Town, as Toph and I did. But you weren't ready to settle down somewhere. And you actually only wanted to be at home. After you stayed with us in Cranefish Town for a while, you wanted to go back home, but you went to the Fire Nation first. You visited Zuko, and… you fell in love," he quickly said, taking one more step back.

Katara frowned at him. So it wasn't Aang? Then who was she going to marry?

"With whom?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. And why was her fiancé nowhere near her, when she was suffering from memory loss? Maybe he had gone to… No, there was no war anymore. That was something she really might need time to get used to.

Blinking Sokka's facial expression went pretty blank, and he started fidgeting with his fingers.

"With Hotpants, of course," Toph said.

Turning her head to look at her, Katara felt like she was maybe getting sick. She didn't mean what Katara thought, did she? "And that is…?"

"Fire Lord Zuko," Aang blurted out.

Katara's eyes grew immensely wide as it sank in.

No. No way. They were all making fun of her.

This was not funny. Not at all. Simply because she didn't remember the last seven years didn't mean she had completely forgotten who she was. And Katara would certainly never fall in love with Zuko, or the Fire Lord, and double that certainty, when Zuko was Fire Lord!

So she shook her head. "Hm-hm. I don't believe you."

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you wake up this morning with him in the room?"

Colour immediately dusted her cheeks, when she remembered that. Now it seemed more logical, and it also would mean she hadn't cheated on anyone. This would also explain why Zuko had been so concerned about her, and so gentle.

"Uh. I woke up in this room. Is this his room?" She asked, a pitch higher than her normal tone, while she looked around the room, for the first time in search of more details.

She shouldn't have bothered, because there was actually nothing personal to it. Just a lot of Fire Nation red.

Still, what was better? Cheating on her actual fiancé with Fire Lord Zuko or being betrothed to Fire Lord Zuko? Lusting for him was something she could better comprehend than… eeewww, loving him, and wanting to marry him, gah!

Aang shook his head. "No, it's your room!"

"Mine?" Katara asked in shock, grimacing almost in an instant. How was this her room? It was so red! So large! And so Fire Nation!

But it made sense. This was why Zuko had come in here from the other door. It was probably adjoining his room, and that's why he had rushed in here without any clothes on. But this meant she had already seen him naked, and…

"Uh, no," Aang said, chuckling. "I meant the room of both of you. You share it. Well, technically it is his room, since it is the Fire Lord's room, but he wanted you to live in here with him, and…"

"Then what's that room?" She asked, pointing at the door Zuko had come out of this morning, but noticed that the bonds didn't allow her to stretch her arm completely in this direction.

"And could you please take this off, now!" she almost cried, because if she wouldn't be able to use her arms freely in a few seconds, she might actually start crying! Those bonds were only the tip of the iceberg!

Aang immediately shifted over to her and busied himself with untying her from the thin fabric, while Sokka went to see what was behind that door. He only glanced in once, then closed it again. "It's a bathroom," he said and walked back to them, before stretching his hands out to stop Aang. "Wait! Katara, are you sure you're clear enough not to attack anyone now? Remember, the Fire Nation is no enemy anymore, and hitting your boyfriend is no good thing to do!" He raised a finger at her.

Katara scowled at this word. "Boyfriend". How could this be her life? How could the angry, fireball shooting jerk be her boyfriend, her fiancé?

"I was afraid!" she defended herself, crossing her arms in front of her chest, when Aang was done freeing her from the bonds. "Finally!" she murmured and pulled the blanket away to get out of bed. Finally standing she saw that her pants were blue. Huh, this had to be one of her pyjamas. Maybe the robe she had worn earlier had been gifted to her by Zuko?

Wait a second.

"Who changed my clothes?" she asked, sounding a bit hysterical.

When Sokka and Aang just looked at each other, and Toph grinned evilly, Katara groaned in a very painful manner.

"No! Why did you let him do that?" She rounded on Sokka, stemming her hands to her hips.

He raised his eyebrows. "Because I didn't know you couldn't remember the last seven years or him for sure, and he's the only one who could do it. I'm your brother, Aang's your friend, Toph is blind, and Zuko has already seen you naked before, so it was the obvious choice!"

Opening her mouth slightly, Katara blinked. Zuko had already seen her like that. Naked. Oh no, oh no, no, no, no!

Had they… Probably. If he had seen her naked, and he had been naked this morning, not caring that she would see him, then this meant they had!

Her face contorted into a grimace of absolute disgust and horror, while she didn't know if she should cry or scream. "This is a total nightmare! How can this be my future?! I was supposed to marry Aang, and have airbending kids, and be at the South Pole, and not marrying the Fire Lord, and wait! Does this mean I'm going to be a queen?!" Rambling, she took a deep breath, in order not to hyperventilate.

"Katara!" Toph shouted.

Swallowing Katara turned around to look at her.

"You should probably go into the bathroom and have a nice cold bath. You need to calm down!"  
That was enough. She needed to calm down? This situation was so stupidly crazy that she definitely had every right not to be calm. She should be freaking right now, and compared to that, she was very calm.

"I'm completely calm!" she barked back.

Aang tried to hide a giggle, when she turned around to glare at him. "What's there to laugh at? Huh? Next time you wake up to find out you're engaged to your enemy, then I'm going to laugh at you, too!"

Trying to look apologetic, Aang raised his hands, leaning back a bit. "Sorry. I wasn't really laughing at you."

"Katara. Get it in your head that Zuko is not your enemy anymore," Sokka pointed out.

Letting out a scream of frustration, Katara whirled around and left through the balcony door again. She remembered that there had been a pond in the garden, and Toph hadn't been quite wrong. Water would really help her now.

She didn't have to look back to know that the three of them were following her, as she made her way straight across the grass, not bothering to use the stone ways.

"Uh, Katara, Zuko usually doesn't like it, when someone walks on his grass," Aang told her cautiously.

Rounding at him, she lifted one foot, stomping it down and flattening the grass under her. Then she did the same thing with her other leg, and then she jumped on the spot. "I. Don't. Care. What. He. Likes. Or. Doesn't. Like. This. Is. Crazy. And. I'm. Not. Going. To. Marry. Him!"

No, she wouldn't. No one could expect that of her, for she didn't even remember forgiving him, liking him, let alone loving him, and having a relationship with him!

"Yep, you will," Toph said nonchalantly, standing as though she was watching her, her arms crossed under her breasts.

Katara immediately stopped her assault on the grass. "What?" she hissed.

"Everyone in the world knows of your betrothal. Zuko asked your dad for your hand, and the Earth King, Chief Arnook, and Chief Hakoda will attend the wedding. Everybody talks about the Fire Lord and his waterbender. The whole world will go crazy, if you turn him down. Let alone, think about it politically. You cannot insult the Fire Nation in such a way. Not after everything we've done for this world." Toph actually sounded serious for once, and not as if she was making fun of someone.

This made Katara pause, and she frowned at the earthbender, who was shorter than her, what she realised now.

"She's right, Katara," Aang said. "After this war, the world was still broken, but you marrying the Fire Lord? It gives people hope. That a war like this will never happen again, and that the future for the four nations will be brighter than ever. Connecting the Water Tribe and the Fire Nation, two opposite elements, in marriage, with the head of state… Have you got any idea what this means?"

She felt her limbs go slack, as she listened to her friend. Of course. How could she have not thought about that? This marriage wouldn't only be a marriage, a fusion of two lives. It was a sign for enforcing the peace between the nations.

"But I don't love him," she whispered. "How can I marry him? I feel like I'm fourteen, and what is he? Twenty-seven?"

"Uh, twenty-three actually," Aang offered, while Sokka and Toph just shrugged.

"That means he was…" Frowning, Katara calculated, and didn't like the outcome one bit. "This means he was sixteen, when he attacked us. Huh!" Her eyes grew wide. "He was so young, but… How could he do all of that?" She had always thought the prince was eighteen at least, more of an adult, but him being still a child was even worse. How could he have been okay with doing all those evil things to them?

"Why don't you just talk to him?" Sokka asked. "He'll understand, and he'll answer any question you have."

Hugging herself around the middle, she stared at the ground. The grass which she had injured. Sighing she shook her head. "I don't know if this would be a good idea. I hit him earlier."

"Yeah, and he's crazy with worry for you, Katara!" Toph snorted. "You're only hurting him by not wanting to talk to him. And you're punishing him for things he had done seven years ago, when he had still believed everything what his father had said. It took him great courage to stand against his father, but he did it, because it was the right thing. Aang forgave him, and let's not forget that it was him who had been chased, not you!"

Whipping her head around, Katara narrowed her eyes. "That's not what I was saying!"

"Really? Cause it totally sounded like that!"

"Please talk to him," Sokka tried it again. "He's nice, you'll see. He really changed. Like Toph said, it's been seven years, and you'll probably not even recognise him from his behaviour." His shoulders slumped a bit, as he gave her his polar bear puppy look.

It was funny that he still had that one, but it also looked rather silly on his grown up face.

Katara didn't think a lot about it, but she couldn't stand it when Sokka looked at her that way, so she relented just to make her brother happy. "Okay, I'll talk to him."

"Yaaaaay!" Sokka cried, throwing a fist into the air.

* * *

_Zuko will definitely be in the next chapter, so make sure to keep your eyes open for that! It will probably be posted towards the end of next week.  
_

_I hope you liked this chapter, and thanks for reading! _

_Please let me know what you think!:) _


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey everyone!_

_As promised, here's the next chapter at the end of the week! _

_There will be more Zuko in this chapter. He might seem a bit different from his canon self, but I thought that seven years later he had to be a bit different, so that's why. There are some instances, however, when his dramatic, pessimistic self raises its head._

_Since I'm finally done with exams, I will hopefully update my other stories soon. I'll also have a surprise publishing later, for which I hope it's not too late! _

_I hope you'll enjoy reading this chapter! Please review, if you do!_

_I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters. _

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Katara was to meet the Fire Lord in one hour. She had told her friends that before meeting the Fire Lord she needed this time to herself. She needed to sort things out in her head, and to get a clearer mind.

To do that, she followed Toph's advice, and took a bath. It was astounding how it really worked, and how good it felt to be back in her element. Sokka had told her how to make the water for the bath warm, which was actually a nice prospect, but it wasn't what Katara needed now. The cold water reminded her of home, of the poles, of other waterbenders, of her baths in rivers, and lakes.

The bathtub itself was pretty much bigger than her old bedroll. And it had been a really fine bedroll, one of the biggest of the village. Katara could even swim a bit in the tub, and passed her time, practising her bending, aiming for calming moves and thoughts.

After she had washed herself with a soap bar of lavender odour, she bent the water from her body, not wanting to wrap herself in one of those red towels. Although, they did look very soft and comfortable.

Sighing she looked around the room, which had a large window to let the sun in, but with the dark red curtains no one would be able to see her. The bathroom had a cupboard, too, in which she found dozens of fragrances, soaps, creams, and whatever else the rest was. When her eyes fell on the razors she pondered with herself, if she could borrow one, just in case she needed protection. But since it belonged to her fiancé, it might not even be that big of a deal.

Before taking her bath, Katara had looked through her side of the giant wardrobe, which was much more like a room itself, and found some nice, blue Water Tribe clothes, which were lying on a chair for her, ready to be worn.

But Katara's gaze was drawn to the mirror on her right. It was a full body mirror, and although Katara could feel her body, it was still stranger to see all her suspicions confirmed.

She really was a woman now. Taller, larger breasts, wider hips, but now she also noticed a difference in her face. Her cheekbones were more present, and her eyes didn't seem large and curious anymore. As she straightened herself to lift her chin, she could already see herself as the Fire Lord's wife. A beautiful, powerful woman, who knows exactly what she's capable of.

A second later Katara relaxed again, sighing. Was that really her?

Twenty minutes passed, until Katara sat in the antechamber to the Fire Lord's bedroom, surrounded by her friends, and waiting. Having braided her hair, and wearing a way more elegant robe than she was used to, but still in blue with the white edge, she felt more like herself.

At the moment, it only were Aang and Toph with her, since Sokka had left to go find Fire Lord Zuko. First, Katara had felt uneasiness at the thought of Sokka walking through the Fire Nation palace all on his own, looking for Zuko, but Aang noticed her discomfort quite quickly, and managed to make her feel better with just a few words, as he always did.

"I hope Sokka doesn't forget to bring the snacks," Toph mumbled, examining her bare feet on her other thigh.

Katara scrunched up her noses, since Toph's foot was almost table level, but Aang didn't seem disturbed by that.

"As if Sokka would forget about food." Then he frowned. "Although he probably might forget to ask for a vegetarian alternative. Or the tea. Or rice." With every word Aang's shoulders seemed to slump a bit.

That was something Katara could sing a song of, and she was glad she was able to finally contribute something to the conversation. "He'll probably just ask for meat, and be done with it," she said, rolling her eyes.

Aang chuckled, and Toph sighed dramatically. "I'd rather have something sweet now. It's still afternoon, and I already ate meat for lunch!"

Just as Aang opened his mouth to reply, the door to the hallway opened. Observing attentively, Katara could see that two guards in Fire Nation armor and helmets, but fortunately without the creepy white masks, were pushing the door open, allowing Sokka to enter. His facial expression said "Here goes nothing", when behind him the Fire Lord walked in.

The upper part of his hair was pulled into a knot at the top of his head, held with a golden ring, obscuring the lower half of the flame shaped comb sitting in the knot. His clothes didn't seem as impressive as they had, when he had tried to get into the bedroom, after Katara had woken up the second time. Now, he was only wearing a long sleeved, black shirt with golden arm protection at his lower arms, a red, short sleeved tunic over the black one, falling to the middle of his thigh, held in place by a black belt with a golden Fire Nation flame in the middle. His dark red pants ended in pointy, black boots. Although it didn't even come near to armor he still emanated an aura of power and might. It streamed from the upright way he carried himself, from his long, confident strides, as well as from his broad shoulders and clenched fists.

Katara's breath hitched. It was funny how Zuko managed to look frightening and handsome at the same time.

Sokka quickly walked over to the tea table and sat down on a cushion to Katara's left.

She didn't take her eyes off the Fire Lord.

If she couldn't think of him as an enemy anymore, then she would only think of him as Fire Lord, since "Zuko" seemed too intimate to her. Of course, she had called him that during their travels through the Earth Kingdom, too, but that had mostly shown her apathy to Fire Nation titles. But knowing that they had had a relationship, and apparently were in love, his first name made her feel uncomfortable.

The Fire Lord's gaze was fixed on her, his eyebrows contorted in a confused way, as he stopped to stand in front of them.

"Sit down, Zuko!" Aang urged him, actually tugging on the Fire Lord's tunic.

He shot the airbender an irritated look, but lowered himself to sit on a cushion.

Katara blinked, feeling surprised that those two could actually really sit next to each other without fighting, running or screaming.

Just when the silence started to get uncomfortable, there was a knock on the door, to which Sokka jumped up. "Oh, I bet that's the food!"

"Did you get something vegetarian, too?" Aang asked, leaning back to follow Sokka with his gaze.

Grinning, Sokka opened one of the doors and nodded. "Yep. Tofu and vegetable dumplings. But still spicy."

Aang smiled and shrugged. "That's okay."

Two people, maybe in their mid-twenties, came in, pushing a cart each. They both wore simple, but well-made red tunics, red pants and brown slippers. The woman's hair was pulled into a bun, and the man's was shorter than any hair Katara had ever seen on a Fire Nation person. Then again, that hadn't been a lot.

With shy glances, the two servants set down cups and a pot of tea on the small table, followed by bowls, chopsticks, and a spoon for each of them. After that several plates of light food, mostly fish, vegetables, and tofu followed, except for one bowl of fried meat with red sauce.

Sitting down, Sokka rubbed his hands against each other, ogling the meat.

Katara's eyes widened at all this food. This was meant to be a snack, if she had understood Toph correctly, but it looked like something which could have been served on the banquet for Princess Yue's birthday.

Bowing the two servants ushered off to the side, but stopped there.

"Thank you. That is all, you can go," the Fire Lord said, not even glancing at them, as his gaze was still penetrating Katara's eyeballs.

As soon as the door closed, he opened his mouth to speak again. "Sokka told me you don't remember the last seven years. Is that true?" His voice was husky and deep, strained with severity.

Katara nodded, trying not to feel too intimidated by this man. He really had a different effect on her than Prince Zuko had had.

"What is the last thing you can remember?" he asked, the intensity of his gaze not lessening one bit.

"Hey, I already told you that," Sokka interrupted, straightening himself a bit.

The Fire Lord raised an eyebrow at her brother. "And I want to hear it from Katara again."

Before Sokka could retort, she answered her fiancé. "I don't really know. The days after the Siege of the North seem blurry, but I very vividly remember the moment, when Aang, Sokka, and I went back to our tent after discussions and recovery work. After that, it starts getting unclear."  
Pressing his lips together, the Fire Lord seemed to try to keep control over himself, as he clenched his hands to fists.

Looking at Aang, Katara could see how he carefully watched the Fire Lord, as if he would need to jump up to calm him down any second.

If even Aang was tense, then the situation was very severe. The tension in the air was almost so thick that you could cut through it.

"But you know…" the Fire Lord began, moving his jaw to the side. "Uh… About the fact that we're not enemies anymore?" he asked, very cautiously, which surprised Katara.

"Yes. They told me… we are engaged." After shortly nodding at Toph, Aang and Sokka, she kept her eyes on the Fire Lord's face, searching for a reaction that would show her that it wasn't true after all.

Instead, the Fire Lord let out a relieved sounding sigh, then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay," he said, making a vague hand gesture. "So you already know. And you didn't freak out, that's surprising," he added, almost as if he had been talking to himself.

Katara frowned at that, but then she remembered to so something. "I'm sorry, by the way. For hitting and insulting you," she told him, trying to keep her voice level.

He looked at her with surprise in his eyes and did something she had probably seen a lot of times before, but this was like the first time again. He smiled. "It's okay. I understand you were scared."

She nodded, biting down her lip, when she didn't know how to react.

"But she still wants to marry you," Aang suddenly interposed, smiling in a strained way.

Katara shot him a glare, mouthing "What are you doing?".

The Fire Lord slowly closed his eyes. "Katara, you currently have the mind of a fourteen year old girl, right?"

Well, yes. Her memories ended at that age, so she assumed that was the case. Could she even act like her twenty-one year old self, when she didn't know how she had been?

"Yes, I suppose so."

And then the Fire Lord surprised her again. He let out a pained groan, as he let his chin fall onto his collarbones, pressing his eyes shut. "This is a disaster," he murmured.

"Hey," Sokka said, while Aang was _patting the Fire Lord's back!_

Katara had never seen something that strange, and if someone had told her this was going to happen, she would have called them a liar, and laughed at their face.

"Look on the bright side. Just like with clouds. They have a light and a dark side. And a silver lining of hope in the middle. Like a sandwich. Just take a bite from the cloud sandwich, Zuko." Sokka was half grinning to himself, and Katara was pretty sure this wasn't solely meant to brighten up the Fire Lord, for it had had a teasing undertone.

The glare with which the Fire Lord tried to incinerate her brother on the spot enforced her assumption.

"That's not funny, Sokka!" the Fire Lord snapped. "The wedding is in two weeks, in two fucking weeks, and my fiancée doesn't remember any of our time together. The last memory she has of me is how I knocked her out!"

"Actually, the last memory I have of you is how _I_ knocked _you_ out," Katara clarified, having the urge to defend her fighting abilities.

The Fire Lord looked back at her, then sniffed. "It was a snow storm and we were surrounded by snow and ice, plus, I had been out there in the cold for hours, after having walked through the cold for hours, so I say this doesn't count."

"Well, then it was pretty idiotic of you to pick a fight with a waterbender in such a territory," she smirked, leaning back a bit.

The Fire Lord looked surprised, before he narrowed his eyes. One corner of his mouth lifted, and Katara wondered if that expression was good. It kind of seemed like he was amused, but also like she was going to pay for this later.

"See," Sokka suddenly said. "You're back again to this weird flirting which seems like you're fighting of yours."

Katara's head whipped around to stare at her brother, mortified. "What?"

The Fire Lord's facial expression matched hers. "I'm not flirting! She's practically fourteen, so she's not even the Katara I got together with." That's when his voice broke a little, making Katara flinch. "She's gone. She disappeared, and maybe she'll never come back!"

That sounded very dramatic to Katara, but she couldn't help but feel a little bit insulted. So she cleared her throat with as much dignity she could master. "I'm sorry, but I am a totally mature fourteen. I had to look after him," she nodded at Sokka, "which adds four years of lifetime. And what are you talking about? I'm not dead, I'm right here."

Passionate, burning golden eyes bored into hers. "You are. But the seven years you forgot contributed to form the woman I love."

Her heart made a leap.

"Without those years, you are not her, but a part of her."

That was definitely an insult, wasn't it?

Toph snorted. "Calm down, Hotpants. Your beloved fiancée is still there, so don't act like she just died!"

"And Katara could become her again!" Aang proposed. "We can simply bring her to all the places she's been to during that time, and then maybe she'll remember!"

"She cannot leave two weeks before the wedding!" Sokka objected, with a gasp of horror. "There are still so many things which need to be prepared, and it needs to be perfect!"

"And with Sugar Queen gone, people will definitely ask questions," Toph ended.

"Uh, what did you just call me?" Katara asked, feeling slightly irritated.

"Sugar Queen. That's my nickname for you," Toph answered, smiling at her.

Frowning Katara shook her head. "Whatever happened in the last seven years, I'm pretty sure I didn't give you allowance to call me that." Stemming her hands on her hips, she raised an eyebrow at Toph, although that girl couldn't even see it.

"And I do not need your allowance, Sugar Queen," Toph replied, grinning wildly.

Katara's eyebrow started to twitch. Sugar Queen? Who did that woman think she was? She couldn't just walk around and call people whatever she wanted to!

"You'll get used to it," Aang tried to cheer her up.

"Or not," the Fire Lord said, as if the thought of Toph's nickname made him feel great pain.

Sokka shrugged. "I appreciate the gift of giving new names to things."

Frowning Katara looked at her brother. "Did you carve her or something?"

"What?"  
"She's perfect for you, you should ask her out," Katara went on.

Toph was pretty much like a younger version of Sokka, only a little bit meaner. But Sokka could handle that. Sarcasm? Check. Food? Check. Giving things new names? Check. Intelligence? Check. And a lot more didn't come to Katara's mind.

Sokka only deadpanned at her, while Toph scoffed "Please. I could do waaaaaayyyy better."

Aang and the Fire Lord nodded. "I agree."

"Hey!" yelped Sokka. Then he stretched and leaned back, supporting himself on his hands. "Besides, I have a girlfriend. Oh, and you actually know her!"

Really? Was it who she was thinking of? "Oh, did you find a way to get Yue back?" she asked, feeling excited, and started to look around, as if the white haired beauty would just hide behind some furniture.

Sokka's pleased smile vanished into thin air, and he frowned a bit. "No, uh, she's still the moon." He rubbed his neck, and stared at the floor.

"Sorry," Katara said, feeling pained for having Sokka remember his first love.

"I saw her!" exclaimed Aang. "She's still watching over us, and once, when I had a really hard time, she appeared to me and cheered me up!"

Sokka just looked at him in a mix of tired and annoyed. Maybe Aang has told this story a few too many times.

"Uh, so who's your girlfriend, Sokka?" Katara asked, feeling grateful not to have to talk about her relationship to the Fire Lord.

"Suki. From Kyoshi."

Her eyebrows shot up. Wow, that's nothing she would have expected, after all Sokka had behaved like a jerk at their first meeting. Then again, the Fire Lord had destroyed half her village, almost made a toddler fall into a gap in the ice, attacked her brother, and manhandled her grandmother at their first meeting. And here she was, being engaged to him.

"Wow. Congrats," Katara replied, nodding. She also didn't know exactly what had happened during their training, so maybe Sokka had stopped being an idiot then.

"Can we please eat now?" Sokka asked, his voice pained.

The Fire Lord nodded, still staring at her, which was getting kind of creepy, and Sokka sighed in bliss, grabbing his chopsticks and attacking the meals.

Eating helped. Katara hadn't even realised she was so hungry, before she took her first bite of a rice ball. This was really good.

"So, Katara, you surely have some questions about your life here," Sokka addressed her.

Swallowing, Katara nodded. "Yeah, I have. Lots of them, actually. Most of all, I'm just really interested in what it is that I'm doing every day." She quickly glanced at the Fire Lord. "I mean, I get that I've been living here for some time, but we weren't engaged all that time, were we?"

He raised an eyebrow. "No, it's only been seven months. And you've lived here for a little more than two years."

She nodded, as if she had expected to hear that. Which she hadn't. Two years, oh spirits, two years, seriously? They had shared a room for two whole years?!

"What you did…," Sokka started, but was interrupted by the Fire Lord.

"You were working on starting a help organisation. You had a few workers, and you had just launched your first project one week ago. Before that, you mostly helped out in the hospital in the city, and brought the food leftovers from the kitchens to the poorer districts of town." The gold of his eyes suddenly seemed as if it would melt, and Katara found herself warming up.

She hadn't known that the fiery gaze of firebenders could feel so… comfortable.

Smiling to herself, she reached for a dumpling. "I like that. So, who are my employees? What exactly do I want to do?"

It was again the Fire Lord who answered, because the rest of them just shrugged. "You wanted to spread your help to all the Fire Nation citizens. First of all, you were concentrating on children, sick, and starving people. In town you found a few sponsors, and purchased food and medicine for the people. After the charity event last week, you got your first full train, and ships heading out to distribute food and medicine. You wanted to travel to those towns, and villages after our honeymoon, so you could also use your healing powers. I told you to just ask the North Pole to send some healers here, and you said, they should also send them to the Earth Kingdom and the United Republic. Aang was totally in favour of that."

"Oh yeah, I know! Your idea was so cool, Katara!" Aang beamed at her, but Katara almost didn't notice it, still feeling as if she would melt under the Fire Lord's gaze.

Who would have known he could have such tenderness in them?

"And your closest workers are Sota, Naoko, Kuare, Izuro, Shitako, and Kagame," Toph said, sounding almost bored. "You met them at some of the events at the palace. Kuare and Shitako are nobles, Naoko was a cook at the palace, Sota is a very successful entrepreneur, who needed to improve his image, Kagame is the daughter of a minister, studying economy, and Izuro is your bodyguard. Zuko assigned him to you, and instead of letting him stand in a corner all day and be your shadow, you gave him something else to do. He was a soldier, then a guard, and he's mostly doing your organization's maths."

"Are they all from the Fire Nation?" Katara couldn't help but ask.

Everyone nodded, the Fire Lord pressing his lips together.

"And the North Pole will send healers to every nation? What is the United Republic?" Raising her eyebrows, Katara turned her head to look at all of them, getting the impression that this conversation would have to last weeks, if she wanted to have all her questions answered.

"A new nation. It's a nation, in which people from all nations can thrive and live together in harmony." Aang had a rather stupid grin plastered on his face. "Zuko and I just created it seven months ago. It is basically the old Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom."

Frowning, Katara looked directly at the Fire Lord. "Why didn't you return them to the Earth Kingdom? It is their land!"

The Fire Lord just frowned back at her, although he looked a bit angered. "I intended to do so, but that would have meant to drive all Fire Nation citizens out of their homes. They had built lives there with Earth Kingdom people, together. Families would have been torn apart, friends, companies,… The colonies didn't want to become part of the Earth Kingdom again. Even the Earth Kingdom people refused, but they also didn't want to stay part of the Fire Nation. So we had the idea that they should become something else," he explained, almost heatedly, and definitely defending himself.

Katara narrowed her eyes at him, but had to admit that she had overreacted by accusing him. It was still hard to think of him as someone… good. Someone who would do nice things.

Biting her lower lip, she was trying to think about the times they had crossed an occupied village in the Earth Kingdom. They had stayed away from the old colonies, of course, but she couldn't remember seeing any Earth Kingdom people in those villages. Was this about the colonies really true?

"I'll have to go back there in five months. You can come with me," the Fire Lord added, almost looking afraid that she would reject him.

Her face relaxed, and she simply had to smile at him. When he was looking so vulnerable, she couldn't stay mad, or even try to be wary. "Sure," she said, blinking, waiting for his mouth to smile back, which it didn't.

Instead, his eyes narrowed at her, one eyebrow (the only one he had) slightly rising.

What was his problem now?

Deciding to ask him just that, she stemmed her hands on her hips. "What's your problem now?"

His glare became a downright scowl. "Don't think I didn't notice your look of pity!" he hissed. "If you don't wanna come, then just say so!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" she shot back.

"You thought I would be sad, if you said no, that's why you sad yes, and that is pity, which I don't need!" he growled, making the air around them become warmer.

"Uh, Zuko…" Aang started, but was interrupted.

"So it is not okay, when I insult you, but when I try to be nice, then that's not okay, too?!" Leaning forward, Katara blinded out the others in the room, focusing on her anger, and letting it out on a seven years older version of her enemy.

"Be at least honest, will you!" he roared, sitting straighter, also leaning forward.

That was it. Katara slammed her chopsticks back on the table. "Then don't look like a polar bear puppy who is about to be kicked out, when you ask something like this! And how can you even know, I wasn't trying to be nice? Or feel compassionate?"

"I know exactly how you look, when you're feeling pity, Katara! Your mind is different, but your body is still the same!" His nostrils were flaring, his eyebrows contorted and eyes narrowed. Now he resembled her enemy way more. And although he did, his anger seemed different. It was more focused, and not as searing hot. This was also no pretty, but scarred boy, but a handsome man, whose anger didn't do anything to change that.

Suddenly, this annoyed Katara more than anything else. How dare he get so handsome, when he was nothing but repulsive, when they first met? And now, his eyes, his lips, his shoulders, everything seemed to call out to her, to lure her closer to him, so that she could touch what was fascinating her.

Leaning even more forward, she opened her mouth to retort, when those feelings overwhelmed her. What on earth?

Pressing her mouth shut, she tensed her legs, trying to make sense of this odd feeling inside of her. It was both pleasant and unpleasant, but she knew that it was a reaction to the Fire Lord.

Maybe he was right, and her body was still the same. Did that mean it reacted like it had yesterday, when she had still been the twenty-one years old Katara?

With her mouth slightly open, she kept staring into the Fire Lord's eyes, so scorchingly golden, and so angry right now. But it looked like something else, too. She didn't know what it was, but it was something that made her feel like this now. Was she remembering some things? Or could she just not make sense of her body's memories?

Confusion finally overcame her, and she drew back, staring at her hands in her lap. "Fine. I pitied you. But I do want to go to this new nation. So I'll come with you!" Raising her head, she set her jaw to glare at the Fire Lord, challenging him to argue back, to refuse, if he dared to.

But his gaze only became more intense, and it felt like he was bending her stomach, because suddenly it felt like it was on fire. Taking shallow breaths, she continued to look at him, as he swallowed and finally leaned back, taking a sip of the tea. "Alright," he rasped, emptying his cup.

Aang, Sokka, and Toph were awfully silent and calm, until Toph chuckled quietly. "Well, it seems you won't have that many problems with resuming your relationship."

"Yeah. Phew, that tension! The air almost cracked with chemistry!" Aang agreed.

Katara's jaw went slack. Had they gone mad? How could they think that, when she had just argued with the Fire Lord? They had been angry at each other!

Sokka twisted his mouth, stroking his chin. "Well, that seems great somehow, but Zuko had a point saying Katara is only fourteen. Which means…" He suddenly turned on the Fire Lord, pointing a finger at him.

Katara couldn't see his face now anymore, since he had turned away from her, but she could hear his voice growling.

"Keep your fiery hands off my baby sister, jerkbender! She's still a child!"

Katara's eyes grew wide and big, as he said that. Jerkbender? How would the Fire Lord react to that?

He stared threateningly at Sokka. "You think I would touch a fourteen year old girl?"

"Could you stop talking, as if I were four instead of fourteen?" Katara growled, clenching her hands to fists. "You all are acting like you know everything better than me, and although I might not know as many things, you are still more childish than I am!" Rising to her knees, she leaned closer to her brother. "And you," she hissed, "should really know best of all of you! I am adult enough! I've helped bearing babies, I managed the household, I fight better than you, and I have seen war! And I certainly don't need an overprotective brother, because I can handle myself!"

Swallowing, Sokka leaned even further back, one hand already gripping Aang's knee, while he tried not to blink.

In the next moment, Katara's head whirled around to the Fire Lord. "Same goes for you. You don't know me, because you didn't know me back then, and you have no idea how different I am from the adult Katara, so don't say things like 'She's gone and will never come back'. And by the way, it is my choice if you can touch me or not, not yours, and I choose that you better don't, if you want to keep certain parts of your anatomy!"

The Fire Lord wasn't as wise as her brother. He didn't know when it was time to lean back and stare, praying that Katara would spare his life. No, he ran straight forward, clashing his thick skull with hers. "I didn't even want to, and I certainly won't, so don't make those pathetic threats!" he snapped, crossing his arms.

"Pathetic?" she hissed.

"You would only freeze or slap a man who touches you inappropriately, but not cutting off parts of his anatomy," the Fire Lord said, almost mockingly now, while one corner of his mouth twitched.

"Maybe I'll make an exception for you." Katara tried to smirk, and saw how the Fire Lord scowled at her.

Wind suddenly blew Katara back in her seat, almost having her falling back on her back, as she quickly supported herself on her arms. "Aang!"

The airbender stood with a gust of wind, and got Toph and Sokka to do the same. "I think we should leave you alone for a bit. You seem to have to relieve some tension, and you should probably talk about how you're going to make this work." He gestured at both of them, smiling slightly.

"What? NO!" Katara wasn't ready to be alone with him! They couldn't leave her!

Sokka seemed to notice the panic on her face, for he smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, sis. Zuko's just a barking polar bear dog, not a biting one."

"He's a big softy," Toph added dryly, already walking into the direction of the door.

"A real cinnamon roll. We'll see you at dinner," Aang closed, and with another gush of wind they were gone.

With an open mouth, Katara stared at the door, not believing that they had just left her.

And just then the door opened again, and Sokka cautiously made his way back to them, … to get the meat plate. "Can't leave the good food go to waste, since I'm sure you won't eat any of it." Sokka grinned, while tossing one of the meat chunks into his mouth.

Jumping up Katara bent the closest water in her reach, which was the hot tea, formed it to a snowball and splashed it in Sokka's face. "You…"

Sokka blinked once, then darted to the door, getting another snowball at his behind, before he fled the room.

Clenching her fists, Katara fumed with rage, and wished Prince Zuko would again attack her at the Spirit Oasis, just so that she could toss him around a bit, and vent her anger!

But Prince Zuko wasn't here. He was gone, he had changed, and had become friends with his enemy. He had fought against his own family, and was now the Fire Lord. And she would have to marry him.

* * *

_Oooohhhh, now they're alooone... _

_You'll see in a week what they're going to do! :D _

_Thanks for reading! _

_**Answer to Guest**__**: **__Thanks, I'm really glad you thought so. I wanted to make this funny, and I worried if I'd be able to do so, since I'm not that experienced yet in writing funny stories. I guess this story will be more of a serious story with situational and character homour, at least for now. _


	4. Chapter 4

_Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait! I don't think I'll manage to update this weekly, since my free time is pretty full, and I have two other fics to worry about, and I already thought two was difficult, and I don't know why I just keep publishing new ones! Urgh! It doesn't make anything easier... I just can't resist the urge to write my ideas down... And I do have lots of other ideas. At least seven other ideas for ATLA fics, but I hope I can keep them contained until at least one of the three ones I'm currently writing will be finished. _

_Anyway, let's find out what Zuko and Katara will do now that they're aloooone! ;D _

_I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender. _

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"Katara?"

Reluctantly, she moved her gaze back at the Fire Lord.

He was still sitting cross legged in front of the table, looking up at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

"What?"

"We should… try to talk without fighting," he answered, suddenly sounding tired. "Look, this is a really difficult situation, and I'm sorry if I insulted you somehow, but…"

"Well, you did!" she argued, crossing her arms under her chest, and slowly sank back on her cushion. "You made me feel like a baby who doesn't understand anything! If you treat me like that, how can I even believe that we're really getting married because…" She had to swallow, before she could even voice it. This was so strange. "…of our feelings for each other?"

The Fire Lord took a shaky breath, then pressed his lips together and nodded. "Yeah, sure, I get that. It's just… I had a bad conscience for chasing you over the globe, for answering to my father for such a long time. You helped me to get over it, back then. Knowing that you forgave me, that you really saw me as a friend, it helped me to forgive myself."

Katara's heart beat fast in her chest, as something inside of her seemed to reach out to him. She didn't pity him this time, she felt compassionate about that. He seemed so honest in his regret, and she appreciated that. She could understand that.

"It took some time, actually, for you to forgive me, but when you did..." His voice cracked again, and a sad smile appeared on his lips. "It meant a lot to me. I always treasured the friendship we had, and I took comfort in it, because of the things I'd done before. And now, you…"

Her breath hitched, as she suddenly understood. She reminded him of all the bad things he had done, because she was again so hostile towards him.

He blinked, and cleared his throat. "It's just that I never wanted you to look at me like that again. I swore I would make it up to Aang, the world, you, and…" Swallowing he locked his gaze with hers again. "It just hurts to have you look at me like that. That's all. It's easier to separate you from… who you were yesterday."

Oh. So it was not about his conscience. It was only about her, and his feelings for her.

She felt her brows contorting a bit, as she bit her lower lip. She really hadn't thought about that, but she also had not really believed what her friends had said.

"So… you really do love me?" she probed, afraid of both answers, somehow.

"Yes," he said without any hesitance, his voice hoarse with emotions.

Taking a deep breath, Katara smiled shortly at him. "I'm sorry. It's just that I didn't really believe it. It's… easier to pick fights than to have to deal with that."

His lips spread into a small smile, and Katara felt good at having appeased him. "Yes, I understand that."

It became a bit uncomfortable, as they simply smiled at each other, and Katara grabbed her chopsticks to clear her plate to distract herself. After a while, she heard the Fire Lord having resumed eating, too.

"There are some things we should really talk about now. The earlier the better," he suddenly said.

She had a feeling what these things were and knew he was right. After all, there were also many things she wanted to talk about. Or ask, mostly.

So she nodded. "Yes."

"Okay, uh… Well, first of all, did Aang mean that before? Are you still okay with marrying me?" He sounded hesitant, and looked defiant, as she lifted her gaze to him. He looked as if he braced himself for her denying Aang's statement.

She blushed. "Uh, well, yeah, but I really don't have any feelings for you. I mean, nothing remained. But it is important for the world. It's a sign of peace, and it can assure people that the Fire Nation won't ever attack another nation again, if a waterbender marries into the royal family. The whole thing is just too public."

Pressing his lips together, he nodded slowly. "Okay. Well, would you also be willing to do that, if your memory will maybe never come back?"

Katara's eyes widened, since she hadn't even considered that. "Actually, I didn't even think about it coming back. Just about how crazy the future seems to me."

The Fire Lord smiled again, looking definitely amused. "Alright. See, I'd love for you to get to know me better in the weeks before the wedding, but we won't have a lot of alone time, unfortunately. We still got a lot of things to do."

Fear suddenly packed her. What did he mean?

"I… I cannot be alone, I have no idea what I'm doing, or what will happen… I don't know anyone else around here!" Her breathing became erratic, as she felt panic rush through her veins.

"Yes, I know. But you won't be alone. I'll be there, most of the time. And we can let Aang, Sokka, and Toph be with you, too. My assistant can cover all the things you would need to know about the Fire Nation, so don't worry. The important thing is that no one will notice that you don't remember a thing," he added with much emphasis.

Katara frowned. "Why not?"

The Fire Lord raised his eyebrow, and leaned back a bit. "I thought that was obvious. This wedding is not political, we are a couple. But if it gets out that you don't remember being with me, it will become political, and it is important that it is not."

Her frown deepened. "I don't understand. I thought it was a sign of peace."

He shook his head. "The fact that the Fire Lord fell in _love_ with a waterbender so hard that he wants to marry her, and the fact that a waterbender whose nation had almost been wiped out by the Fire Nation can fall in _love_ with the Fire Lord and wants to marry him, that is the sign of peace, Katara. It's about the fact that our love didn't care about the war, and about what happened in the past."

Nodding slowly, understanding seemed to rush through her, as she took a deep breath. Of course. Of course it was about love, how could it not be? Peace was always about love, and love was always the best cure against violence, hatred and war.

"Okay."

The Fire Lord smiled at that, and nodded.

"But," Katara raised a finger, blushing furiously at what she would have to say. "I know what comes with marriage, and I won't be ready for this for quite some time. We can sleep in one bed, but I don't want to fulfil my duties of producing an heir to you right away."

His eyes grew larger, as an amused smile tugged at his lips. "I know," he said, as if it was obvious. "I wouldn't have thought you would. You need time. I understand."

Yeah, she would need time to get used to all of this, time to even start liking him. She didn't think that she could still hate him. He was just too different than his former self to still hate him.

"And how will it be before the wedding? We slept in one bed, right?" she asked again, blushing even more furiously.

He nodded, as his smile grew a bit wider. "Yeah, we did. And we won't be able to sleep in two different rooms, since that will raise questions. But I could sleep here in the antechamber." His chin pointed to the couch close to the window. "While you can have the bed."

Katara turned her head to look at the couch. "Fine. But you'll have to move the couch in a bit. If someone walks out there in the garden and sees you through the window, that will raise questions, too."

His smile widened to a grin. "Not really. I slept there before, when you… were mad at me."

She blinked in surprise, suddenly blood rushing toher cheeks. "What? You let me do that to you? You're the Fire Lord!" How could he do that, even be okay with that? Sure, he said he loved her, and it was obvious that he changed, but letting himself be ordered around by the Water Tribe peasant?

The Fire Lord raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "What? It's not like forcing myself into my bed would have improved things. Besides," he raised his hand to scratch the side of his head and suddenly had a very sheepish smile on his face. "… when we're mad at each other, it's better to stay away from the other one, or someone might get hurt. And we both don't like being around the other one when it's like this."

"What?" Katara shrieked, then scrunched her nose. "That doesn't sound like a happy relationship."

He seemed surprised, but then he laughed. "I know. That's what a lot of people said. And it's not very easy to be with you, but I wouldn't want it any other way." His voice became more husky at the end.

His eyes seemed to burn again, right through her skin, tugging at something deep inside of her.

"I don't understand," she still murmured. "My parents were always happy, and I don't know any couple that couldn't stand being around each other." She was very confused. How could that be considered a happy relationship? "Wouldn't you be much happier if we don't fight?"

He sighed deeply. "That would mean we would always have the same opinion, and extremely happy couples are kind of disgusting. At least, to me. You always say we should work on looking happier around other people. But I… I guess I'd be creeped out, if you would only smile at me, and never glare at me."

"I thought you don't like me looking at you like that," she interjected.

The Fire Lord cocked his head to the side. "That's different. When you were mad at me, it was only for something I had done, not for who I was."

"Oh." Well, at least that made sense, if everything else was already complete senseless. "I don't know if I want a relationship in which there is so much fighting."

He pressed his lips together and frowned at the table in front of him.

Katara wondered if that had hurt him, but still. Fighting was something for war, not for love and peace. She had fought all her life, fighting to stay alive, fighting to get the tribe through winter, fighting to learn how to fight, fighting against the Fire Nation. She didn't want this now anymore. Not when everyone was telling her how peaceful everything finally was.

"I'm gonna tell you what you told me after our first fight as a couple," he suddenly said. "You said that you missed it. You told me you had to fight since you were little, but after the war the fights changed and lost their thrill. It became hard to find something or someone to vent your anger on, but I made it apparently pretty easy for you. You said fighting with me was a challenge that you loved to win. You were only worried that you hurt me, back then. Later, after you calmed down, that is."

Her mouth stood slightly open, and her eyes were wide. Really? That's what she's been like?

"So I liked fighting with you?" she asks incredulously.

The Fire Lord nodded, smiling again. "Yeah, you always loved to tease me, but sometimes it even got quite serious."

"And you?" she asked. "Do you like picking fights with me, too?"

She could tell he tried to hide a grin. "Sometimes I provoke you on purpose."

A short laugh escaped her mouth, one she couldn't stop, and she didn't even think about it. "What? You like it when I'm mad at you?"

He pressed his lips together, and she could definitely see a red tinge on his right cheek. "Uh… I better shouldn't tell you about that."

"Why not?" she asked, feeling bewildered. "I just want to know what kind of couple we were."

An amused smile spread on his lips again. "You're basically fourteen. I'm sure there are things about our relationship you don't want to know."

Her cheeks felt burnt, as all of the blood in her body seemed to rush into them. The stupid Fire Lord kept smirking, even wider, as if it were some sort of achievement to make her blush. She was suddenly very aware of her body, and knew that it had experienced those things he had hinted at.

Oh, couldn't she change her body, just slip into a new, not used one? Or maybe even her own fourteen year old body? That would be really nice.

"Mhm," she murmured in a high pitched tone, swallowing. She couldn't look him in the eye anymore, and instead looked down at her lap, as her stupid teenage brain flooded her mind with images of the things he could have meant. Or wait, were these memories? And could she even consider her brain to be a teenage brain? On an anatomical level it should be way more mature than that.

She took a sharp breath.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to shock you," he said then, and sounded concerned instead of smug.

She looked up at him, seeing that he also looked worried, but she couldn't spare his feelings now. "Well. YOU DID!" she snarled loudly, leaning forward.

He leaned back a bit, this time, but then smiled again. "See. It's pretty easy to get you mad. And I'm very impatient, too, and hot tempered, you should probably know that. And I'm glad I could yell at you and be mad at you, without having to worry so much about crushing you. You're a strong woman, not a fragile doll."

She felt taken aback, but… Somehow, it made sense to her.

"Once, I yelled at Aang, because he was better at learning waterbending than me, and I was so envious. It's my element, he just started learning it. But I made him cry, and I felt so bad, because I didn't want to make him cry, but I also didn't know what else to do than yelling, and I was also a bit angry that he wouldn't let me express my feelings without making me regret it," she admitted quietly. Looking at his face, he probably already knew about that. She must have told him before.

He nodded. "Yeah, I get that. When you shout at me, I shout back and vice versa. It's probably annoying for those who can hear us, but it's very helpful to me. We don't have to suppress our anger with each other. Or any other feelings."

Biting down on her lip, she thought she understood now fully. If she would have a boyfriend who treated her like a fragile doll, she would probably go insane. And if she had a boyfriend who was a fragile doll, she would probably sneak out in the night to yell at some trees.

She didn't like being quick to anger. She never liked having a temper, especially not after seeing the Fire Prince that often, always this angry face, this scowl.

Being angry herself reminded her of him, and she never wanted that. She never wanted to have any similarities with him or the Fire Nation in whole. But she had to accept that this was how she was. Anger is not simply reserved to the Fire Nation. Waves can be high, too. They can consummate and they can rage, shout and roar with fury. And so could she. Getting counter from a wildfire might not be so bad in these moments.

"Okay. I get it. But… other than that, were we happy?" she asked cautiously, not knowing which answer she wanted to know.

His smile toned down a bit, almost not visible anymore, but where his lips stopped smiling, the rest of his face started doing so. The hard edges all seemed to soften, as his eyes shone brightly like the sun, and she felt as if she were standing under a tender, caressing beam of spring sunlight.

"Yes, we were."

She didn't know what it was that she was feeling right now, but it felt like a soft glow had spread inside of her chest. Her breath hitched, and her heart beat faster. Was this how to be looked at with love?

Katara remembered how soft and interested Jet had looked at her, before he had turned out to be a total psycho, and she also still knew how he had looked at her, as he wanted to kiss her that night.

Haru had had a similar expression on his face, soft, but also thankful, and in general had seemed less egocentric than Jet.

And then there was Aang. His eyes had always held awe for her.

But the Fire Lord's look was more than just that. It was all those things together, yet more. It was love, it had to be. It reminded her… of how her father used to look at her mother.

Suddenly, she felt tears streaming down her cheeks and pressed her hands to her face.

"Katara?" the Fire Lord's voice sounded closer, and she peaked through her fingers, seeing him crouched next to her. "Are you all right?"

She licked her lower lip, and started chewing on it, shaking her head. "No, I don't think I am."

"Then what's wrong?" he asked gently.

She sniffed. "You love me. You really love me."

"Uh, yes? I told you," he deadpanned.

"But… but… but p-people say a lot of th-things, and how c-could I know you were being honest? You could also just t-try to enforce your relation to the Water Tribes, and just p-pretended to be in love with m-m-me!" said Katara, but it sounded like a wail, since she couldn't stop crying.

"Nah. I'm not that good of an actor. I'm actually pretty bad at it. I can't lie, too. The first time I lied to you, you immediately knew." His voice sounded amused, yet soft, like a gentle caress.

"R-really?"

"Mhm. It was just after I joined your group, you know. We were hiding at the Western Air Temple, and you were very cold towards me. I had a bad conscience, so I started making the fire for breakfast every morning, since I was the first to get up. You didn't want my help, though. And when you asked me, if it was me lighting the fire, I lied. You didn't believe me, and extinguished it. Then you sent me getting new wood for a fire you could make. That happened every morning from then on."

Katara sniffed. Oh moon spirit, had that really happened? That sounded awful! "What? Why wouldn't I accept your help? That's terrible! Why did you even put up with that?"

She looked through her fingers at him, seeing him sitting cross legged, looking comfortable.

"Well, I was mad at you, sure, but I was also stubborn, and wanted to make you accept me lighting the fire. So I kept doing it, until you wouldn't extinguish it. And… you were mad, 'cause…" He let out a pained breath, then grimaced slightly. "There was one time, when I could have joined your group, before. We were both imprisoned by my sister and… talked. You were kind, for some reason, and took… You felt compassionate about what I told you, and you offered to heal my scar with the water from the Spirit Oasis from the North Pole." His voice seemed deeper than before, strained with emotions, and incredibly raspy.

Katara's eyes widened. That must have been a lot of compassion for her to offer him that water. She probably started liking him before that, or she wouldn't have done that.

"But Aang and Uncle came to rescue us just then," the Fire Lord goes on. "Aang and you tried to flee, while Uncle tried to talk some sense into me. I didn't listen and joined forces with Azula. I thought that I had gone through too much to let the chance of getting back home slip through my hands. I didn't want to fight you, but I thought that I had to. Through your friendliness you coaxed me into almost giving up on my mission, and I thought, if I'd fight you, if I…" He grimaced painfully again, swallowing. "…managed to capture you somehow, this temptation would wane. And that foolish thought almost got Aang killed."

She could only stare at him for a few seconds, then she frowned and looked at the ground. "That was in Ba Sing Se, right? Sokka told me about it."

"Yes. I betrayed you and my uncle that day. I never stopped regretting it." His voice sounded hoarse.

She looked back at him to see him stare at some wall, lost in thought. "Why did I offer to heal you? What happened between us to make me so... nice to you?"

The Fire Lord looked back at her and blinked twice. With a slight frown he resumed talking about that day. "Well, I kind of stopped chasing you after the North Pole, because I was declared a traitor to the Fire Nation. My father blamed the loss at the North Pole on Uncle and me, so chasing you didn't make a lot of sense. I still tried, though, but my sister was sent to capture me, and I had more trouble with her. We once fought her off together. I though that maybe not having me constantly on your feet appeased you a bit, but I honestly don't know why you offered to heal my scar." He shrugged. "When we were in prison, you were first mad at me, and even thought this was just a trap I had planned to catch Aang. You insulted me and actually hurt me with it a bit."

"What did I say?" Katara interjected, wanting to know what could have hurt him back then.

The Fire Lord raised his eyebrows and blinked. "Er... I just know that I didn't like being seen as evil, just because of where I come from and... No, wait, I think you said that I was spreading violence and misery, because my father was the Fire Lord. And I didn't like having something in common with him at that time. I was just a refugee in the Earth Kingdom, you know. Uncle and I were hiding from Azula, and I saw all the other refugees and what destruction the Fire Nation caused back then. I didn't want to have anything in common with them."

"Oh."

"Your accusations stung and hurt, but I didn't fight back. I was kind of down, but didn't think you knew what you were saying." He suddenly had an odd expression on his face. "You then told me that the Fire Nation had killed your mother."

Katara's heart seemed to stop beating for a second. She swallowed against a lump in her throat and fought back tears which threatened to fall.

What? She... How...? This? He knew even this? And she had told him when they still had been enemies? What had been wrong with her?

She had to look away. She couldn't look at him anymore and averted her gaze.

"I think you tried to justify your hatred towards me and the Fire Nation by saying that. I told you that I am sorry and that we had this in common." His raspy and soft voice seemed to reach out to her like a soothing bowl of sea prunes, chasing all bad spirits and feelings away.

She was surprised. Beyond suprised. How could the Fire Nation have killed his mother? She had been from the Fire Nation, after all! Or was she? Maybe Fire Lord Ozai had taken some poor Earth Kingdom woman as his wife? Or he had forced himself on her, since no Earth Kingdom woman would have agreed to marry Fire Lord Ozai during the war! But the Fire Lord in front of Katara looked so much like a person from the Fire Nation. He didn't look like being from the Earth Kingdom at all!

But this meant Fire Lord Ozai must have been okay with his wife dying by the hands of the nation he ruled. She had always assumed he was the worst person who had ever lived, but this was the worst thing she ever heard.

"How?" she asked then.

The Fire Lord smiled sadly. "I'll tell you later. The thing is that you stopped being angry at me, because I said this. You even apologised for shouting at me, and then we were suddenly talking about faces and my face and then this came up. That you thought you could heal me."

Katara frowned. "So you weren't aggressive, I was nice to you, and months later when you joined us I was mad at you because you chose your sister's side then?"

The Fire Lord nodded.

"Er... This kind of sounds... stupid."

The Fire Lord's eyes widened. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Katara crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Look, I know I'm a soft and friendly person. I always look for the good inside people. But we were stilll enemies, weren't we? What you just told me is all that happened?" she probed. If there was more to it, then she could maybe understand why she had been so mad at him later.

"Yeah. That's all."

"So you didn't say that you wanted to fight the Fire Nation on our side? You didn't say you would stop hunting Aang if I healed you?"

The Fire Lord seemed confused. "No."

Katara raised her eyebrows. What the deep sea? Where was the total justified reason for her to be so unfair to him later? She couldn't believe that she had been so childishly mad at him later when he really had wanted to join their group? "So there was no way I could think that you would join us then?"

The Fire Lord frowned. "I don't know. You said you thought I had changed." He took a deep breath and straightened himself. "Well, my sister had wounded Uncle before. You were there, it was that one time we fought her together. Azula could have killed him then. And then she threw me into prison with you. I guess you just didn't think I would choose her side over yours. You have been far kinder to me, so..." He shrugged then.

Katara frowned again. Gosh, this was all so complicated! And how could she know that there wasn't more to that? She bit down her lip, thinking. "So your sister was your enemy? And I was your enemy. But I was nice to you, and wanted to heal you instead of hurt you. And then you chose your sister's side?"

Grimacing, the Fire Lord nodded. He reminded her a bit of a scolded child when he did that. It was kind of cute.

"When I'd joined you, you told me you had started trusting me in Ba Sing Se," the Fire Lord added a little shyly. "And I destroyed that trust. So I guess you were angry because of that. I don't actually know. After you forgave me I never asked, and I always thought your anger was justified."

Katara raised one eyebrow. "That anger does not sound justified. Maybe your sister was horrible to you, but she was still your sister! I don't get why I thought you'd choose our side," she muttered, shaking her head. If Sokka would behave like this, but offer her peace at the end, a way for them to fight together she would always accept it. Sokka was her brother, and family was more important than some enemy girl who had always just run away and told you to jump into the river. Maybe Katara had eaten something strange in the future (er, past?) that affected her common sense.

To her it sounded a bit as if her fifteen year old self (she knew she would have been fifteen, because her birthday would have only been two weeks after the Siege of the North) thought she had some kind of weird claim on the Fire Lord over the fact she offered to heal his scar. She grimaced. Fifteen year old Katara was strange. Sounded like a real crazy lady.

"So you're not mad at me now?" came the hesitant question from the Fire Lord she now had a claim on.

"No, why should I be?"

"Aang almost died because of that," replied the Fire Lord.

Katara grimaced. "Yeah, but who knows if it wouldn't have also happened if you had fought for us? I believe it all happened for a reason. At least, you chose our side later."

The Fire Lord smiled then. "Yeah. I'm glad I did so."

Katara took a deep breath, meaning that this topic was over. "Are there any other things you wanted to talk about?"

He grimaced. "Yeah. There are still lots of things we need to talk about. There will be dinner in a few hours, but if you want we can have a private dinner here and just keep talking. This way you won't have to face my family already tonight."

Katara was horrified. His family? They were eating together? But his father was a psychotic megalomaniac, and his sister sounded like a sadistic sociopath after what Sokka had told her! Weren't they in prison?

Oh no! Wait. He also had an uncle. Maybe he was talking about his uncle. The old man had never seemed so homicidal. And maybe there was also a non-homicidal aunt or cousin?

"So your uncle is living with you then?" she asked, trying to sound polite.

The Fire Lord shook his head. "No, he lives in Ba Sing Se. He has a tea shop there."

The Dragon of the West running a tea shop in the city he once tried to conquer didn't sound as crazy as it could have. After all, Katara had woken up to find herself engaged to a non-aggressive, non-Prince Fire Lord Zuko. She was certain that there were still crazier things for her to find out.

* * *

_They were talking. That's what they've been doing. What did you think I'll let them do? Katara is just fourteen, and Zuko is twenty-three. That would be so weird and gross. At least now, when Katara's not in love with him yet... _

_Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! _

_If you liked it, please leave reviews! _

_Til next time!:D_


	5. Chapter 5

_Hi everyone! So sorry for the wait! I really wanted to update this much earlier, but I had so little ideas of what to put into this chapter! I already know what will happen with Katara's amnesia, and why she has it, but I didn't know much about the things in between, so I also took this time to develop some plot. I hope you'll like it. _

_Please enjoy the next chapter, and let me know what you think! It's still part of the exposition of the story. _

_I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters._

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Talking with the Fire Lord alone hadn't been as bad as Katara had thought. Sokka was right, the Fire Lord was rather nice. He also seemed patient with all her questions.

Katara found out that the former Fire Lord Ozai was kept in a prison cell in a prison tower at the edge of the caldera, in which the Fire Nation capital was seated. When she found out that she was currently in the caldera of a volcano, she flipped out a little, but the Fire Lord managed to calm her down. She was still thinking about what happened at Mount Makapu, and she hadn't even known that there were such things as dormant volcanoes.

Princess Azula had apparently tried to make the Fire Lord's life miserable for years, but hadn't been seen for two years now. Each attempt at catching her had failed, and not knowing where she was, or what she did seemed to frustrate the Fire Lord a great deal.

The family the Fire Lord had hinted at having here were his mother, his stepfather, and his little half-sister. As he talked about them, his eyes held a warm gleam to them, and his face softened, as a smile pulled at his lips. Katara felt rather grateful for having a fiancé who seemed to care about his family. It was surely not easy, when the own father and sister longed to kill one. Katara wanted to know how it was that the Fire Lord could even care for his family so much. She wanted to know if his mother had married again, after his father had been dethroned, and she wanted to know how the Fire Nation had taken his mother away from him, if she was here now.

But before that she wanted to know what kind of people they were, and what her relationship towards them was. The Fire Lord's smile became broader, as he talked about the creative streaks his mother and step-father possessed, whereas his little sister didn't seem to be interested in any art besides martial and bending arts at all.

Apparently, the Fire Lord's family loved Katara. He said they loved her, and he said that they were all getting along brilliantly. But his face twitched, and Katara watched him closely, as he said how well she got along with his mother. Katara thought he was lying, but decided to ask him about that again another time.

Before they knew, the sun started to set, lighting the room in all colours from orange to pink. Katara was mesmerized. The red decorations, the dark furniture and golden embellishments worked with the natural pink light in a wonderful way.

She got up and walked towards the doors leading outside into the garden. It amazed her how anything in the Fire Nation, let alone the Fire Lord's palace, could look so beautiful. She couldn't see the sun, unfortunately, but its light travelled all across the sky.

"Sunsets in the Fire Nation are said to be the most beautiful ones," the Fire Lord said behind her.

She quickly turned around, seeing him stand very close. Her eyes widened a bit, as she felt a bit of panic rise.

He seemed to notice that, grimaced, and took a step back.

Blushing, Katara looked at the ground. He must be used to stand close to her.

"But I cannot verify that. The sun sets in Ba Sing Se look pretty much alike," he continued, his hands clasped behind his back.

Katara looked back at the sky. "I don't remember Ba Sing Se, but the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen was at the Northern Air Temple." She turned her head to look at the Fire Lord again. "We were really high above the clouds there, and the sun turned the clouds under it into colours of orange and pink. It looked like flower fields to me."

The Fire Lord regarded her with a soft smile. "I can only imagine. Given that you were travelling the Earth Kingdom in autumn and winter…, you probably haven't ever seen a flower field, have you?"

Katara shook her head. "No. I've seen pictures, though. I always thought I'd see one after the Siege, when we would return to the Earth Kingdom. It would have been spring, and my father always said that the most beautiful flowers raise their heads in the Earth Kingdom. After all, they grow from earth."

The Fire Lord scrunched his nose.

Katara folded her arms over her chest and raised one eyebrow. "What?"

The Fire Lord sighed. "Well, this might be true for Water Tribe people at war times, when no one from other nations had set a foot into the Fire Nation for decades, but today it is commonly known that the Fire Nation holds the most beautiful flowers."

Katara was quite sceptical. "How could a nation based on fire grow beautiful flowers?"

The Fire Lord smirked. "Well, I know there is a lot of water in the Water Tribes, and that there's a lot of earth in the Earth Kingdom, but there's not very much fire in the Fire Nation actually. Fire always needs something to live from, and it destroys what it lives from. My nation doesn't have the means to cultivate wildfires," he said with a small smile on his lips. "There are a few sacred fire in the temples that are rumoured have never gone out, but other than that we have a lot of earth and water here, too. The sun shines for longer than half a year, our soil is fertile, and there's the rainy season. That is how the flowers bloom here, Katara."

She frowned. Was it true what he'd said? Was the Fire Nation really full of water and earth?

"How come your soil is so fertile?" she asked instead.

"The Fire Nation consists of volcanic islands. Hardened lava is one of the most fertile soils on earth."

Katara stared out of the window. This didn't make sense in her mind, but when did anything today ever make sense?

"I'd like to see that," she said. "I mean, the water and earth here. And the flowers."

The Fire Lord shrugged. "It is spring, and we could go to the countryside any time you want."

Katara smiled at him. "Really? Aren't you extremely busy as a head of state?"

He grimaced. "Yeah, I am, but…" He sighed. "You're more important."

Katara blinked.

"I want you to feel well here. I want you to feel comfortable and happy. And I know seeing more of the Fire Nation would help you accepting that this nation is not consisted of evil fire monsters," he said, his smile almost sad.

"I don't think you're an evil fire monster," she responded.

He nodded. "Good. I'm glad." He looked away shortly, his eyes narrowing at something on the wall. "It is almost time for dinner. Would you like to eat here or… somewhere else?"

Katara turned away from the window and bit her lip. "Er… Where would somewhere else be?"

"We could go to our friend's quarters. Or the Water Tribe wing…"

"You have a Water Tribe wing?" Katara quickly asked.

The Fire Lord nodded. "Yes. For summits and ambassadors. It doesn't look like real Water Tribe rooms, since we thought we wouldn't want to take the experience of being in a foreign country away, but it's pretty close for Fire Nation standards."

"We?"

"Yes. We both worked on it. Would you like to see them?" he asked.

Katara bit her lip again, thinking about it. If she would go, she could find some comfort, even if it apparently didn't look like an original Water Tribe room. But she wasn't at the verge of tears right now. She didn't need comfort right now. It would be better to save it for another opportunity. She looked outside again. "Can't we eat outside?"

The Fire Lord blinked, looking surprised.

Hadn't she ever proposed this before?

"I just want to be outside and maybe… near a water source," Katara murmured, as she pulled at her braid nervously.

The Fire Lord nodded. "Sure. Sure. Er, I'll arrange that. Any wish for food?"

"No fish. I feel like I've only had fish in the Northern Water Tribe," she said, smiling lightly.

The Fire Lord chuckled. "Of course. How about I get your favourite Fire Nation food, and you tell me if you still like it?"

Katara felt intrigued. So far, the Fire Lord's knowledge of hers had always felt or been right. So maybe he was right with this, too. She nodded. "Okay. That sounds good." She started walking back towards the table, wondering where the dishes had to be brought. She picked up her plate and cup. "Where do I put these?"

She hadn't expected to see the sunlight shining in behind the Fire Lord, making his features seem darker, but at the same time as if something good and heavenly radiated off him. As if he himself was made of sunlight.

Katara stared, her lips a bit open, as he stepped closer, smiling.

"Servants will take them away. You don't have to do the dishes or cook, Katara." He stepped out of the beam of sunlight and Katara blinked, seeing him look normal, like before. Not that anything about his appearance was normal. He still looked impressive and powerful.

She couldn't believe that a man like him loved her. Then again, she had no idea what she had become in seven years. Maybe she was now just as impressive as him, but the mere thought made her want to laugh hysterically.

"Oh," she said, feeling dumb. Of course, as servants had also brought their food before. She remembered how Aang, Sokka, and she had been brought food by palace servants in the Northern Water Tribe, too. But this had only been temporary, and Katara had known it would soon be back to setting up camp and cooking stew over the fire. Was she now to never do this again?

"So the servants always do this?" she asked.

The Fire Lord nodded.

"And I'm not doing anything?"

He smiled softly and stepped closer. "No, of course you do something. Whenever you want something Water Tribe, you go to the kitchens and make it yourself. When we hold a large feast you spend the majority of the day hovering over every servant, asking if you can help. The chef cook has also taught you a few things about Fire Nation cuisine and special food on holidays. You used to say that you wanted to be the one to teach it to our children. Just like your mother taught you."

Katara felt the sudden pain in her chest she always did when she was reminded of her mother. Nonetheless, she liked what the Fire Lord had told her. This sounded a lot like her, although she had never expected to have children with the Fire Lord one day. The thought scared her. She felt way too young to be a mother, although she knew she wasn't really too young, physically, at least. However, to get any children a certain act had to be performed, and this act wouldn't happen for a long time into the future. Katara could worry about it then.

The Fire Lord's eyes widened suddenly, as if he remembered something. "But, Katara…" He quickly strode towards her, but walked past, and opened the doors to his bedroom. He kept his eyes locked with hers, and Katara felt slightly panicked again. The bed room was her worst nightmare.

"There is a special lotion in the bathroom that you will need, if we're going to eat outside. Its scent will hold off any millipede mosquitoes or other insects," the Fire Lord explained.

"Oh," Katara answered. Would she have to follow him now? Into the bedroom?

"Should I get the lotion for you?" he asked, and she felt very relieved.

"What exactly…" She wringed her hands and blushed. "What do millipede mosquitoes do?"

The Fire Lord's eyebrows rose. "Oh. Well, they bite you and suck your blood. You don't feel it, but after they're done, the spot swells, and becomes red, and starts itching. It itches so much that people sometimes scratch themselves until they bleed."

Katara thought she had never ever heard about something so terrifying. A creature that sucks your blood and leaves you scratching your skin until you bleed again? Of course, the Fire Nation held an animal like that.

"I'd like to use the lotion then," she squeaked, barely able to suppress her fear. In fact, she felt so horrified that the thought of being with the Fire Lord in his bedroom didn't feel so bad anymore. She walked right past him, towards the bath room door and rounded on the shelf with all the different bottles and containers. "Which is the one?" she asked, as the Fire Lord followed her.

He stepped next to her, so close she could feel his body warmth, as he reached over her shoulder to pick a green little tin. "Here." He turned towards her, standing directly in front of her and held the tin out to her. "You should put it on every part of your body, but especially on those parts where you will show skin. You can also change again to cover your arms, if you'd like."

Katara nodded and took the tin from him, opening the lid. The smell was strong, but not unpleasant. It smelled unlike anything Katara had ever smelled before.

The Fire Lord dipped his finger into the tin and smirked at her, as she looked up at him with a confused frown. "I need some myself." He gathered a huge amount of the lotion in his hand and turned around to walk towards the door. "I'll be in the bed room, while I put the cream on. And I also need to change, so if you want to leave the bathroom, you probably should knock first to make sure something like this morning doesn't happen again."

He walked out, his lips still in that smirk, as he closed the door.

Katara felt her stomach do crazy things, fluttering and heating. She had to think about this morning and blushed a furious red. She bit on her lip as she willed her stomach to return to normal. But her breathing was still so shallow, and she stared at the door, as if she wanted the Fire Lord to come back and do…

Well, do what?

She actually had no idea what it was exactly.

Katara knew about kissing and roughly what married couples did to get a child, but she refused to connect it to the feeling in her stomach the Fire Lord ignited.

She quickly divested herself of her clothes and began to rub the lotion on every part of her body. She didn't want to take any risks. Who could know if the Fire Nation insects wouldn't find a spot on her body not covered in that lotion?

After she was done and dressed again, she tried to stall a bit of time by looking around the bathroom again. It was so obvious that there were two people using it. It didn't look like the Fire Lord's bathroom, but one of a very wealthy couple. Of course, there were sun and flame patterns in the tiles on the wall, and dragon head shaped taps in the sinks and bathtub, but it only looked like a Fire Nation bathroom. Not particularly the Fire Lord's. More than that, there were blue decorations everywhere. Made of stone or glass, Katara saw a beautiful figure of winged dolphins, sea horse stars, and oddly shaped stones, looking a little like small trees. Katara wondered if these tree things were something the Fire Nation people liked to put in their houses, but the shape seemed so inelegant, almost arbitrary, that she couldn't imagine posh nobles liking this sort of things.

Katara rummaged through a dresser and found more towels in different colours: pink, violet, gold, and light blue. She wondered if the Fire Lord used the light blue one, too. And of course, she got a mental image.

Blushing she looked into the next drawer, finding robes to wear after having bathed. They were made of the finest fabric with beautiful and careful embroidery and elegant patterns. Again, she found a mix of red and blue. Some robes even had both colours in them.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the bathroom door.

Startled, she closed the drawer and stood up, looking alarmed. For one second she wondered what the punishment for snooping through the Fire Lord's stuff was. Then she reminded herself that he wouldn't punish her for being curious, if he really loved her. Besides, with how long they had been together, he must sure know that Katara was curious and would look into all people's things, if she considered it necessary. Moreover, these were also her things.

"Yes?" she asked.

"If you're done, I'm done, too. You can come out," the Fire Lord called through the door.

"Okay," she replied and opened the door, only to find him standing directly in front of her.

His nose wiggled, as he stared intently at her. "Did you get scared by the thought of millipede mosquitoes?"

Katara swallowed. "Uh, no, I mean, a little, maybe. The concept of a blood sucking insect is just a little worrying." She shrugged, since she didn't want to admit to him how terrified she was. "Why are you asking?"

"It's just that you applied a lot of that lotion, so I wondered… And millipede mosquitoes normally aren't dangerous. Only if they spread illnesses, but most of them don't!" he quickly said. "Mosquitoes are annoying, but you don't die because of them. Not even almost. Well, there's a little minority which spread deadly illnesses, but they exist more in the rain forests further south in the Fire Nation. No one died of a millipede mosquitoe spread illness in the capital for centuries!"

Katara had the impression she might still look as frightened as a polar fox deer in the torchlight, since the Fire Lord took a step back, and pulled his left sleeve up.

He pointed at a red spot on his pale skin, showing her his lower arm. Katara could see his veins, in a bluish green colour, like those of everyone else, and decided she liked his lower arm. It was long, and looked strong and muscular, the blue veins clearly standing out, even in his hand. His hands were just as pale as his arm, large, with long fingers. These hands had fought against her, a few days ago, or really already seven years ago.

Still, Katara also thought that she liked his hands. He didn't have any hair on his arm and back of the hand, which Katara felt quite grateful for. She thought men with hair on their arms seemed shady.

"There," the Fire Lord said. "This is a millipede mosquito bite. It doesn't hurt, it just itches, and there is another lotion to apply on the bites to cool them. It's really nothing bad," he tried to reassure her.

Katara took a step forward and glanced at the bite. "Can't water healing do anything against it?"

"Not much. It soothes the itching for a few hours, but it cannot make the bite disappear."

Frowning, Katara looked closer at the bite and thought that it didn't look so terrifying. She could imagine it would be annoying, but if that was the only thing…

"How do you know I applied a lot of the lotion?" she asked, and looked up into his eyes.

His face was so exquisitely unique. She found it incredibly uncomfortable to stand so close and look at him. The one side of his face was just a normal, albeit very handsome face of a narrow eye, a strong nose, dark eyebrow, high cheekbone, angular jaw, and rosy, full lips. The other side still had the nice lips and nose, but the eye was even narrower, only a slit, there was no eyebrow, and his cheekbone seemed so much harder on that side of his face. The man didn't frighten her, since he still looked nice, when he smiled, but this slit of an eye surrounded by the dark red, almost purple colour of burnt skin looked so wrong somehow. She hadn't thought about it much, when he had chased her around the globe, only that it made him hideous, angry, and scary. But now it seemed like another face was plastered on the nice and handsome one. A dark red, angry face with hard skin and an ill intent in his eye. She wished she could take the mark away, as if it were simply a mask. But it was part of his face, and she would get used to it. She would get used to him and she would like him. Maybe then the mark wouldn't bother her so much.

"You smell of it," he answered, his voice hoarse, as he swallowed, and his eyes burnt. The corners of his mouth rose, as if he had forgot to smile.

Katara proceeded to smell at her shoulder and shrugged. "Yep, I suppose so."

The Fire Lord took a few steps back, and she could see better that he had changed his clothes.

The pants he wore now were much darker and he wore a simpler robe than before, long sleeved, in a lighter red tone, and with golden embroidery around the edges, with a golden belt. It seemed to be made of linen, a much cheaper fabric than she had thought he would ever wear. His hair was still partially down, and even if he wore it in a knot and not in a wolf tail like Sokka, his hair style still reminded her of her dad's. Hakoda's hair had just been as long as the Fire Lord's, and he had had his upper half of hair torn back into a wolf tail. But maybe Hakoda looked totally different now.

Frowning, Katara looked off to the side, wondering what her father did now.

"So then, do you wish to change?" the Fire Lord asked.

Katara nodded.

"Follow me," he said, and walked towards a curtain hanging on the wall. It was blood red, and shimmered in the light, and it looked like the fabric was very smooth.

As the Fire Lord opened the curtain, and waited for her to step through, she couldn't resist but touch the fabric. It really was one of the smoothest fabrics she had ever touched.

The curtain led to both their wardrobes with a large area for the Fire Lord and a slightly smaller one for Katara. Earlier, when she had looked through it to find something to wear, she had already felt a bit amused by this.

She had expected the room behind the curtain to be dark now, but the three windows on the left side of the room still let some light in, although it was a dark blue light, and not pink anymore.

The right side of the room was occupied by wardrobes without any doors and clothes hangers. At the other side of the room Katara could see a shelf full of shoes.

The Fire Lord entered behind her and shot a flame up to the wall, where a long thing stood out from the wall. Something was ignited by the Fire Lord's flame, and the fire rushed in both directions of the wall, lighting the whole room.

Katara blinked. That was handy.

Lost in thought she followed the Fire Lord more into the room, when he took a turn to the right. It looked like he just vanished through a wardrobe, but really there was a gap between two wardrobes leading into another room. Katara's wardrobe. The Fire Lord lit her room in the same way as the one before and turned around to look at her. "Here are all your clothes and shoes."

Katara turned her head to take everything in. Before, she hadn't had a lot of time, getting ready to meet her fiancé, but now she could really look at the room. Now she wasn't looking for anything blue that covered her in an appropriate way, no, now she was simply curious and wondered what clothes Katara, the Fire Lord's fiancée, had worn.

She had clothes in almost all colours! She saw blue, purple, red, pink, green, golden and very pale, almost white dresses. Most clothes weren't only one colour, but made of a fabric with patterns on it, flowers, leaves, flames, or waves, which held a different colour than the background fabric.

Some clothes looked casual, some elegant and some extravagant, but all seemed to be of a high quality.

Her mouth stood slightly open. "I can understand the red and blue in here, but why green and white? And this almost looks orange," she said, softly touching a long golden orange robe with two red dragons on it.

"You liked the clothes, that is all. From your travels you wore clothes from all of the four nations, and you didn't want to limit yourself to just red, when you came here to live with me. The green ones you mostly wear in the Earth Kingdom, though, as well as the white ones. Pure white is the colour of mourning in the Fire Nation, and white with patterns in other colours on it is for celebrations here, so you don't wear these clothes on normal days."

"What about…" Katara fidgeted with her hands. "…my wedding dress?"

The Fire Lord blinked. "I don't know how it looks like. I think it is in Sokka's room."

Katara's brows contorted. "Why?"

"In the Fire Nation, it is said to bring bad luck to the couple, if the bridegroom sees the dress before the wedding, so it is not in here. As for the colours, I have no idea which ones you chose."

Katara sighed, then a small smile appeared on her lips. "Guess, we'll both be surprised then."

The Fire Lord answered with a very large smile of his own, as he nodded. His gaze became intense once again, and Katara found she couldn't look away. Oh, damn him!

"Anyway, I should better…" He pointed behind Katara. "… go. Leave you… alone to change." He stepped around her, as she stepped closer into the room, looking around the clothes.

Well, she would need something that would cover her whole body, so she wouldn't get bitten by those mosquitoes.

Katara ignored all the elegant clothes, as well as all colours which weren't blue. Maybe she would be comfortable enough to wear them in a year, but right now all Katara wanted was some Water Tribe familiarity.

None of the blue clothes however looked like her old ones. She sighed. Well, she had grown a lot, so it probably wasn't even possible to have her old clothes.

She found a long sleeved, dark blue shirt with a narrow, white trim around her wrists and a high collar. Then she pulled on some dark blue pants with grey boots which went up to her knees. The boots didn't seem to fit into this palace, although the Fire Lord himself wore some, but he was a man. A woman wearing boots in a palace seemed ridiculous. At least here, in the Northern Water Tribe it had been too cold not to wear boots, but she remembered them not to have a long bootleg. These boots here had a long bootleg, and Katara felt a little more like a warrior in them. She bit her lip nervously, but decided that the Fire Lord hadn't told her anything about a dress code in the palace, so she assumed she could wear whatever she wanted, as long as it wasn't inappropriate. Besides, she would feel a lot more like herself in these boots than in some fancy slippers.

And above all that came a light blue tunic with a white edge and a white belt. Katara found a mirror and looked at herself.

Apart from her hair, which was shorter than she remembered, she looked more like herself. She felt more like herself, too, even though the fabric she was wearing was too soft and light for any Water Tribe climate. Katara frowned and looked at her hair. She didn't wear any hair loopies, as she had simply quickly made her hair before into a braid, without bothering with more. She turned to the side, looking at her hair, which fell to the middle of her back and not to her waist anymore.

Katara decided to go to the bathroom and make her hair there. She needed a practical and pretty style.

The clothes she had worn before still smelled good, and she hadn't stained them, so she chose to fold them neatly and put them in a shelf, where similar looking clothes lay folded into piles.

Back in the bathroom, she grabbed one of the blue combs lying around and combed her hair for several minutes, until it felt smooth enough to style it. Katara took her two loopies and pulled them behind her head. She looked at herself from both sides in the mirror, then took the upper part of her hair and twirled it around to make a bun at the base of the back of her head. She put the ends of her hair loopies in it and let the lower half of her hair fall free onto her back.

When she opened her eyes again, she gasped at her reflection.

How couldn't she have seen it sooner?

But with these clothes and her hair down… she almost looked like her mum.

Swallowing, Katara stared at her face, and tried to think about Kya's face. She thought Kya's face had been more oval, and her chin more pointed, but maybe she was getting there herself. Her face already looked a lot like her mother's in her opinion. What would Sokka say? Would he think so, too?

Taking a deep breath, she put the things she had used away, to leave the room just as she had found it. There was no trace of the Fire Lord in the bedroom, so she went into the antechamber to find him sitting in a chair, reading a scroll.

He looked up from it, when she entered and smiled. Putting the scroll away, he stood up and walked towards her. "I asked the servants to set up dinner outside, and Aang, Sokka, and Toph will be here in a few minutes."

Katara nodded. Okay. That was good to know.

"Can we… Can we talk about what will happen tomorrow?" Katara asked, wringing her hands.

"Sure. Er… what do you want to do tomorrow?"

Katara bit her lip, looking off to the side. "I don't know…" she whispered, staring at the wall. "I know I have to learn things about the Fire Nation. I need a tour of this place. I need to go into town. I need to get to know you. I need to find out more about the past, and I need to know what will happen in the future… I…"

"Katara," the Fire Lord interrupted her, taking a step closer towards her. "Stop. I know all of this has to be done, but you cannot think about all of it at the same time. That's too much." He seemed to think more deeply, as he touched his chin in thought. "Well, is there something you really, really want to do? What is the first thing that comes to your mind?"

Katara frowned at him, but sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. What did she want?

"I need water. I want to see the water in the Fire Nation. A lake or a river. Or the ocean. I want Sokka and Aang to stay with me. I need to know about the past," she said calmer this time.

The Fire Lord smiled. "Then this is what you'll do tomorrow. Take a coach, go to the countryside and enjoy yourselves. I'm sure Sokka would love to give you a history lesson."

Katara chuckled softly. Yeah, Sokka would love that.

"Er… I might have something that might help you a bit," the Fire Lord said, producing a book from his pocket. It was small, the cover a dark blue with waves on it.

"I think this might have been some sort of diary to you," he said sheepishly, rubbing his neck. "I looked through your things earlier to see if you have any diaries. There were more books, but the date on this one is the oldest. I don't know if it's really a diary, since I didn't read it, and the date is written on the first page, but I also don't know if there aren't simply notes in it," he rambled, clearly thinking that Katara would get mad that he had looked through her stuff.

She smirked. "Do you look through people's stuff often?"

"What? No! I am a great admirer of privacy, and that's why I haven't read this." He waved the book around.

Katara raised an eyebrow, being sceptical. She couldn't believe he hadn't read it. She totally would have, if she had found his diary.

"Just because you're snoopy, doesn't mean I'm, too," he said, smirking, handing her the book.

Katara took it and opened it to look onto the first page. The date was from shortly after the Sozin's comet, a week later.

Katara turned to the next page and saw something that looked a lot like a diary entry.

She almost died with curiosity, just wanting to snuggle into an armchair and read the book, but her stomach was growling, and the Fire Lord was standing right in front of her. It was just a few minutes until her brother, Aang, and Toph were going to be here.

She could read the diary later.

* * *

_Thanks for reading, I really hope you liked this chapter! :D _

_Since Katara, Sokka, and Aang travelled the Earth Kingdom in autumn and winter, I don't think that there have been any mosquitoes, so Katara proabably never needed to know about these. And since the Fire Nation seems very tropical, I thought they just might have lots of mosquitoes, and sitting outside at night, but with lights on in a tropical country will present your skin like an all-you-can-eat-buffet to mosquitoes. I actually hate mosquitoes, am super annoyed by them, and overreact every time, so that's probably also why I thought about it. If I had to sit outisde at night with light in a tropical country, I'd be super terrified of mosquitoes and would cover everything of me, even if there were 37 degrees Celsius! I just thought I should explain this, since I cannot recall having read about mosquitoes in the Fire Nation in any fan fiction yet. Might be strange, but I thought the topic was okay to rise. _

_I just applied some changes to this chapter, since I kind of forgot that I can't write about mosquitoes in the Avatar universe. It has to be some chimera mosquitoe, so I changed it to millipede mosquitoes, which would probably be my personal nightmare. Let's just say if I had to stand in front of a boggart I would definitely see a millipede mosquitoe. _

_Please review! :D _


	6. Chapter 6

_Hi everyone! _

_I know this has taken long, but here's the next chapter. Katara will read a bit in the diary Zuko gave her in the previous chapter, and I didn't want to define the dates with our calendar, as this always sounds strange in the Avatar world, so I divided the year into four sections, basically the seasons, but since there aren't seasons everywhere on Earth, I wondered what every nation had in common, and that is the position of the sun to the Earth. So the abbreviation FE stands for fall equinox. I tend to say autumn, but I think they say fall in the series, as it is American. SE is then spring equinox, SS is the summer solstice, and WS the winter solstice. The year is determined by the year of the first comet, AG stands for after the genocide. I think I read it on Avatar Wiki when they write about when which person was born, but I've also found ASC for after Sozin's comet, but that sounds too much like Fire Nation propaganda. I know the days get huge numbers like this, but I didn't know what else to do. The day's number is the number of days after the solstice or equinox. _

_The diary entries will roughly follow the comic The Promise (**POSSIBLE SPOILER: **If you haven't read that, but wanted to read it, and don't want to be spoilered from the next chapter, there's an instagram page called avatargraphicnovel that has all the comics, and if you haven't read it, because you don't want to, and Avatar ends for you with season three, then I'm sorry. I don't like the content of the comics, but they're canon for me, so I'm using them, too. But I react appropriately to the bullshit in it), with the feelings Katara should have had, and with the conversations she should have had. In my opinion, she just wouldn't have told Aang that she was sure he would make the right decision, even if they had to be apart. I mean, what? Since when did Katara not think for herself? Since when was she just okay with things other people decided for her?! And in general, the content of The Promise just f**ked me up. Honestly, I felt like I was depressed for weeks. My heart bled for Zuko, and I was furious with Aang, Toph, Katara, Sokka, Suki, and Mai for being the worst friends (and girlfriends) in the whole f**king world! Just what they said, it made me want to punch them! _

_Anyway... Please enjoy the next chapter! I assure you, there is less swearing and less wishing for violence:)_

_Please review!:)_

_I hope you're all staying safe and healthy! _

_I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters. _

* * *

**Chapter Six**

Katara lay in bed, the large, red bed of the Fire Lord. She was exhausted from the day, tired and well fed.

Dinner had been nice, and the meal the Fire Lord had chosen for her was really amazing. She understood why this had been her favourite. Crab chicken in risotto baked in a pineapple, served in one half of the pineapple.

Her friends had kept her entertained, and she didn't even think about millipede mosquitoes once. The curtain around the bed kept them away, while she was asleep.

She and the Fire Lord had taken turns getting ready for bed. After he had emerged from the bathroom, his hair had been down. It had looked nice. He slept in pants that went just a little over his knee and a short sleeved tunic. To Katara, it didn't look like sleepwear, but then again, her pyjamas didn't look like it, either. Silk and lace, and patterns. Too much effort for sleepwear.

But very comfy. Katara felt her eyes fall shut, as she grabbed the diary the Fire Lord had given her before, too curious to fall asleep yet.

The first entry was from a week after Sozin's comet.

oOo

_4__th__ FE, 100 AG_

_I'm getting crazy. _

_I hate waiting. _

_I know now that Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Suki are all safe. Ozai has been defeated by Aang, who showed up at the last minute. _

_Zuko got a letter from Iroh telling us he managed to reconquer Ba Sing Se. _

_But Zuko is still injured, and I have no idea what to do! I can only do so much with waterhealing, and although I know he will survive, he will probably take a long time to feel no pain anymore. _

_He tells me I'm silly, and he's just grateful I saved his life. Whenever he says this, I feel uncomfortable. It's not so much saving to me, as I had only healed his wound. What he'd done was saving. He had taken the risk of being killed himself, in order to save my life in a moment I had been completely unprepared. I blame myself. I should have known Azula wouldn't stay true to her word. _

_So now it's just been Zuko, me, a few fire sages and servants. The whole palace and the whole city seem completely dead. There's almost no one here. _

_The fire sages already acknowledged Zuko as new Fire Lord, and Zuko told me this is enough for now. If they acknowledged him, they really mean it. _

_I try to believe him, but I'm still wary of these old men with the pointy heads. The servants don't seem threatening, which is probably because they seem terrified out of their skull, whenever one enters Zuko's room. I can only imagine what Azula and Ozai had done to them. _

_I'm very proud of Zuko. He's so nice to the servants, and although he feels pain, he even smiled at them. It takes them by surprise, every time. _

_I just wish more people we can trust were here. There is almost nothing I know about the Fire Nation, and if something would happen I guess I would be pretty useless to Zuko. I've been asking him a lot of questions, but he also needs to rest. He sleeps a lot. I'm bored. His room is large, but completely uninteresting. There is nothing, absolutely nothing personal at all! _

_The bed stands in the middle of the room. At the centre. Which bed does that? _

_Servants brought fruits, and hot towels to him every morning. I was completely thunder struck. Yesterday he told them to stop doing that. He asked them to only bring food for two, and then leave. And after that Zuko had already been too exhausted to get up for hours._

_Today, he made his first steps. Oh moon, this sounds as if I'm writing about a baby._

_The fact is that Zuko's injury weakens him. It makes him an easy target. If someone were to attack him… I'm sure I could fight off one to three or maybe four people, but not more. What if an assassination group will break in? I'm so on edge, constantly hovering over him and ready to protect him at any second. _

_Oh, I just hope Sokka and Iroh will return soon! I really much need a responsible adult!_

_/_

_16__th__ FE, 100 AG_

_I can't believe Aang kissed me again! _

_Honestly, I thought when I told him I wasn't ready, he would recoil like some pouting little kid, but maybe he's grown more mature than that. I was so afraid during Sozin's comet, and I feared I had lost him. And then, I didn't know if he would even accept me, after how I behaved towards him in the past. I rejected him, and when I realised my feelings for him, I was so worried he wouldn't return them anymore. _

_But he still does! _

_/_

_17__th__ FE, 100 AG_

_The peace summit went pretty well, but Zuko is worrying me. He went back to one of his serious, emo moods. I thought he was like this, because his nation attacked the whole world, but maybe that's how he always is. Now, he's worried that his family's craziness will affect him, too, and that he can become evil. Such an idiot. Of course he won't. He was there, and he decided against it. When I talked to him, he seemed angry. Well, maybe I shouldn't have called him an idiot, but after everything I said, he smiled and said Thanks. I tried to joke about how he couldn't ever become evil, if he saved the life a lowly Water Tribe peasant, someone he had been taught to think less of. He chuckled, but then said really seriously that he doesn't think like that about me anymore. And that he'd prefer if I never again referred to myself as such. _

_That was really nice of him. _

_I just wished Aang had called Zuko an idiot, too, instead of making that damn promise. _

_/_

_31__st__ FE, 100 AG_

_The Harmony Restoration Movement works really well, but unfortunately it needs me. Or it needs Aang, and he needs me. I know I shouldn't be bitter thinking about how little time we actually have together, because I'm glad he's finally taking on his responsibilities. I feel like a hypocrite sometimes. Before, I constantly nagged him about being responsible and now, that he is, I wish he would have more time for me. _

_It's great to help the people of the Earth Kingdom, of course, and I know that the Fire Nation people are very excited about leaving, too. Some colonists seemed disappointed, as they had hoped to build a new life in a foreign, interesting country. But no one seemed particularly angry or started to hate on Zuko. I guess they are all a little intimidated by Aang, although I know Aang would never hurt anyone for talking ill about his friend. But I'm different, and I've been watching carefully. The moment anyone wishes back the old days of Ozai's reign is the moment I'm going to strike. _

_/_

_54__th__ FE, 100 AG_

_I miss home. _

_Spirits, I miss the snow and ice, the times of light and darkness stretched to six months._

_I miss Gran Gran so much lately. I know she could talk to me about relationships and boys and girls. _

_I know Aang is still thirteen, so we can't move fast in our relationship, but there are some concerns I'm having about the future. I just don't know a lot about guys, and Aang definitely doesn't know a lot about girls. _

_It still comes with a lot of thinking to kiss him, and when I look at Sokka and Suki it looks so much more natural. Maybe we still have to wait a while for us to be older. We will grow together and we will find a way, I'm sure of it. _

_Aang notices that I'm down, so he brings me flowers all the time. Mostly panda lilies, since they are incredibly rare and a sign of love. I haven't had the heart to tell him that they stink. Their odour is just not the finest, and although the flowers look lovely, I hate having them around. I bend the water out of them, slowly, just to make them wither faster. Unfortunately, this only makes Aang bring more flowers. _

_/_

_11__th__ WS, 101 AG_

_I'm exhausted. I like our job, sure, but sometimes I wish I could give all the responsibility to someone else. Sometimes I feel like everything is getting too much, and I wish a responsible, trustworthy adult were here with us. I just wish Dad or Gran Gran would be here with us. _

_I'm tired of being so adult. _

_Aang is now as tall as me, which makes curling up next to him much more comfortable. I can lay my head on his shoulder without having to fear to crush him. Sometimes, when we hug it feels like the comfort I'm longing for is there. After all, Aang has grown way more mature. He helps me more with setting up camp, seemed to genuinely care for me when I'm upset, and when I caught a cold two weeks ago, he brought me frozen frogs, but didn't force me to lick them, when I said I didn't want to. _

_The winter in the colonies is cold, but there is almost no snow. Nothing is always covered by ice. And whenever we travel to the Fire Nation, it just gets warmer. This is a very warm winter for me, which I find strange. But I guess it won't be the last of warm winters. I bet there will be a winter I will exclusively spend in the Fire Nation, because of some political cause, or a disturbance Aang will have to look into. I do not have the impression as if the Avatar could really settle down in these times. Maybe in times of peace, but not in the time of restoration. _

_/_

_67__th__ WS, 101 AG_

_I miss Sokka. He's gone for a few months now to Kyoshi Island to see Suki. I've never been that long alone without him. The goodbye was sad and tearful from both our parts. I packed Sokka some food for the trip and wrote him a list about things he should know, do, not do, or bring me as souvenir. _

_Everyday life is just strange without him. _

_But life has generally been stranger than from before or during the war. Our group became so much smaller. Suki is back on Kyoshi, Toph didn't think that she would want to help with the Harmony Restoration Movement, Sokka was with us, now gone, and of course Zuko has to be the Fire Lord off ruling in the Fire Nation. We didn't hear anything from him since we separated in Ba Sing Se. He didn't write us any letters, although we keep him very informed about the HRM. Still, we're flying so much, it might be hard to reach us with a letter. _

_I feel a little rejected through this. I thought we were all friends, but how I know Zuko he's probably not too much into writing letters. And he probably doesn't even have the time for that. It's certainly very difficult to be the new Fire Lord after the Hundred Year War._

_But it still bothers me. My new family split apart, and I miss every one of them. Being together with Aang is great, but only with him still makes me feel lonely at times. _

_Sometimes I wish we could sleep next to each other, but other than sleeping on Appa's legs, next to each other we haven't been closer. In winter, I sleep in my sleeping bag and Aang without anything, mostly on Appa's legs or his tail. I haven't told him what I want, because I don't know how he will react. He's thirteen, I don't think it might be appropriate for him. Or maybe he'll feel weird. I don't know._

_/_

_59__th__ SE, 101 AG_

_Aang and I made out! Oh spirits, I can't believe we made out! It was… weird and good. Kissing him is always nice, and then he was suddenly lying above me, and we just kept kissing and touching slightly. _

_Just when he was about to touch my breasts, did I flinch and push him away. I thought we were too young for him to grab my breasts. They aren't even fully evolved yet. Or I hope they aren't. _

_But feeling him on top of me… Mhm. It was a completely new, but great feeling. Aang is all hard edges, muscles and bones, and he feels so different from me. His legs are leaner than mine, which sometimes makes me a bit uncomfortable, especially when we're sitting next to each other. Aang is just in that age, where he's torn apart from his growth spurt without having the appropriate mass yet, and without eating meat, I sometimes fear he's getting too thin. He always tells me not to worry, as tofu, eggs, and legumes give him enough protein. I hope he's right. _

_I feel like standing on the verge to being a woman. I will discover being adult with Aang. It started today with making out. Aang and I are a couple that makes out! Just like Sokka and Suki and Zuko and Mai. Finally, we're one of them, too!_

_/_

_75__th__ SS, 101 AG_

_Sokka has been back with us for two weeks now. It's great to have him back, but I don't think he feels very comfortable. Every time Aang and I kiss, he pulls a face. I think he misses Suki, and seeing Aang and me together probably makes him uncomfortable, too. _

_We just found out that Zuko withdrew his support for the Harmony Restoration Movement. We had to leave the Fire Nation citizens on the island's port, hoping they could still get on land. But it didn't look good. No colonists are allowed to return. I don't know what Zuko has been thinking! _

_Apparently, he's in the colony of Yu Dao at the moment, so that is where we're going now. I'm worried for him. I hope he had a good reason, and that it's not about keeping his colonies. Zuko became a better person, and I grew to trust him, but now I haven't seen him in months. It's almost been a year, and it's longer than the time I've even known him. A lot could have happened to him, and he could have changed a lot, too. _

_I hope everything will make sense soon. It kind of feels like the moment Zuko and I took Appa to stop Azula from getting the Fire Lord. I'm so tense, and my nerves are on end. But at least, I didn't have to fear for a friend's sanity back then. _

_/_

_79__th__ SS, 101 AG_

_So Aang and I had a major fight. It was really our first one, and I don't know what to think about it. Of course, there have been times we've disagreed before. But normally, I let Aang rant and keep my own feelings to myself. I couldn't do this today. _

_It turned out that Zuko was quite fine. Stopping his support for the HRM was a bridging solution to a problem that arose with a few Fire Nation citizens. So, there are colonies which are over one hundred years old. The people of the Fire Nation sometimes married Earth Kingdom people, got children, built lives. _

_There are several mixed families and children. One kid told me he was two thirds Earth Kingdom and one third Fire Nation. I've tried to wrap my head around it, but maybe I'm missing something, as the calculation doesn't seem right to me. However, Sokka is the math genius. _

_The thing is, these families, as well as friends and co-workers and the whole society of Yu Dao, which is founded on the principle of fire and earth working together, will be torn apart through the HRM. Zuko said he had to think about things first and decide later what he will do. But to him, it seems unfair and unjust to force families apart. I agree. _

_Aang said, we have to force them, as it's supposed to be four nations. The war unbalanced the Earth, and only through four nations with four elements can it be balanced again. That's the whole thing behind harmony. According to Aang. _

_I told him we had to work through a compromise, as I wouldn't want to force families apart. _

_Aang said these families shouldn't have been created to begin with. He said elements should not mix. I got sick with rage, and he quickly said it was something different with us, since there were no other airbenders left. _

_So he basically said that if there were still airbenders he wouldn't be interested in me?! _

_I never cared about from which nation he is! It is just about him, not his freaking element! It's not even about the fact that he's the Avatar! In fact, I would be quite happy if he wasn't, because then we could lead a more normal life, but I accepted that Aang is the Avatar, and I try to encourage him, and I'm there for him, and what is he doing?! _

_Anyway, I just yelled at him that I couldn't believe he'd be so cold hearted as to force families and friends and lovers apart, simply because of in which nation they were born. And then I said I shouldn't be surprised, as Aang hadn't been raised with a family. _

_Yep, that was low. _

_The hurt in his eyes was… too much. I immediately tried to apologise and said that's not how I meant it. I told him that his family was just as important to him, it just had another dynamic. _

_Still, he took his glider and took off._

_I didn't want to be alone, so I went to Zuko's place. He's a guest of the mayor, and the town emptied a whole house for him. He seemed lonely. There were only guards and servants around him, no one he could really talk to. _

_I got a bad conscience, since I'm complaining about Aang not having enough time for me, but Zuko is completely alone. Iroh is in Ba Sing Se, and we're all over the world. I know Toph stayed with him longer after the peace summit, but she became restless, as the rest of us, too. _

_I can't begin to understand how Zuko must feel. He seemed happy to see me, though. I bet anyone else than a guard or servant is great company for him these days. _

_I wanted to clear things between us from the morning, when he basically manhandled me, and Aang almost killed him. Zuko apologised, and said he's been on edge with worry for his citizens, since everyone told him he wasn't caring for the Fire Nation citizens, and he was just the Avatar's and Earth King's puppet for war reparations. _

_I got indignant in his place and ranted about how that so not true. _

_Zuko apologised for manhandling me. He said he was trying not to make it a habit to do that with Water Tribe women, and I chuckled, as I thought of our first meeting. He still has the same kind of humour about his evil days. I forgave him, and said I apologised for attacking his soldiers. He didn't seem to believe me, and I didn't really mean it. After all, they had attacked Aang first! _

_Then we just talked about the colonists and how difficult it will be to find a solution. The colonies can't stay property of the Fire Nation, and Zuko seems to know that. He doesn't want to keep them, as they are on Earth Kingdom ground and were falsely taken by the Fire Nation over a hundred years ago. The rest of the Earth Kingdom won't accept them staying part of the Fire Nation, and Earth King Kuei would seem like a ridiculous and spineless figure. _

_Zuko only wants to protect his people._

_I told him that I agree with him, and then somehow we ended up talking about Aang's and my fight. That Aang just left, instead of talking things through and working together. _

_Zuko said this is how Aang is. He needs to sort things out in his head first, before he can talk to anyone. If he disappears, he will still come back, and I shouldn't worry. But I should let him be. _

_I was pretty cross at Zuko for saying this, since he implied I wouldn't let people alone when they wanted to be alone. He looked at me as if I were dumb. And I thought it meant all this time he really wanted to be alone. He wasn't lonely, but he didn't want people around, he didn't want us around, so I excused myself for bothering him this late in the evening and wanted to go, but he prevented me from leaving. He said that wasn't how he meant it, and that he didn't want me to leave. He said he enjoyed my company, but that I was also a meddler. It didn't mean he wanted me to leave. _

_I tried to act nonchalantly, but I was actually pretty relieved. I really like Zuko, and I consider him a good friend of mine, but I've never really known how he thinks of me. Maybe I'm still the annoying enemy girl in his head sometimes. Someone he had to get along with in order to save the world. Just a Water Tribe peasant. I like to think that he's changed enough to think more of me, and he's never given me any reason to believe that this is how he thinks of me. He even said he didn't consider me a peasant anymore. But that was almost a year ago. Maybe I'm just overthinking things. Or it's my insecurity. After all, my friends are the Avatar, the Fire Lord, the first metalbender, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, and then there's Sokka and I. We're the people from the tiny village, who have never seen the world before. We didn't get a good education, and the rest of the world looks at us as backwater and savage. _

_I know somehow that it's not true, and our tribe deserves just what the other nations deserve, too, but it's not easy. _

_/_

_1__st__ FE, 101 AG_

_Oh spirits! Holy moon and ocean spirit! _

_The last days just flew past and were so much and so intense, and part of the worst days of my life! _

_I had more fights with Aang. _

_Aang said he had talked to Roku who thinks Aang should keep his silly promise to Zuko in mind. Just because that old man had bad experiences with Fire Nation royals doesn't mean Zuko is going down the same way. _

_Zuko is not Sozin. Roku seems to forget that, but Aang said I didn't understand. I haven't seen them as friends. They were even better friends than Aang and Zuko, and Sozin still betrayed Roku. Aang promised me not to get upset enough to go into the Avatar state again, but I know Aang. More often than not he lets himself be controlled by his feelings. If he would actually kill Zuko without sitting down and talking first… I don't know if I could get over it. _

_Well, the thing is, Aang and I thought Earth King Kuei should talk to Zuko to weigh out their options. But apparently, Kuei has to compensate all his years as a mascot and decided to bring his whole army to Yu Dao. _

_Zuko heard of it and decided to bring his own army to Yu Dao. Great, right? As if armies would have ever helped anyone. _

_It was all a mess, completely crazy and chaotic. There were Smellerbee and Longshot, and the mayor's daughter Kori who's dating Sneers. Kori wants Yu Dao to be free of the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation. She wants it to be its own thing. She wants to be an earthbender, but also Fire Nation, and live in Yu Dao. This worldview is intriguing, but also so foreign. _

_Still, I'm with someone who's not from my nation. If we will ever have kids, will they be the perfect mix, too? Will they wear blue and yellow? Will they be Water Tribe people who can airbend? I think I'd like that. _

_And then Sokka, Suki, and Toph were suddenly there. Apparently, the Kyoshi Warriors had been made Zuko's lifeguards. Suki was supposed to protect Zuko, but fought against the Fire Nation in an attempt to stop a new war from happening._

_Everything today was so weird, and I just didn't know what to do. Who to fight, who to protect? Smellerbee and her Freedom Fighters, as well as Kori with her Yu Dao Resistance only made things even more complicated. _

_Well, Aang was going to kill Zuko and I stopped him. He seemed angry that the HRM hadn't been followed through by Zuko. That is a stupid reason to kill someone, especially a friend, and I told him so. _

_I smacked General How for telling Aang to take one life to save many. _

_I don't understand how Aang was so calm about it the whole time. He didn't even kill evil Ozai, but he was thinking about killing Zuko?! _

_I asked Aang what he would think of himself if he would kill Zuko, knowing he had spared Ozai, knowing the Fire Nation would sink into chaos, and Azula would probably become the next Fire Lord. Aang wasn't inclined to murder Zuko after that at all. _

_I told Aang that to me, all his behaviour these past few days, what he'd said, was contradicting, because he's with me. We're from two different nations. I'm aware there is no one else for him, as there aren't any other airbenders, but it's not even like there had been love relationships between the monks. Aang doesn't live like a monk, because he is the Avatar. Because we have fallen in love. And the people in Yu Dao have done so, too. They have fallen in love with people from another nation, just like us. They had chosen friends from another nation, just like us. Forcing them apart is like forcing us apart, and I wouldn't be okay with it. If Aang would go through with it, I told him I couldn't be with him anymore. He would seem like a hypocrite, but I also wouldn't want it then. I love Aang, very much, but if he'd chosen this path, I wouldn't have been willing to follow. I told him to calm down and think, to find a solution, because he was the Avatar. He had to. And I trusted his choice would be proven right in the end, but Zuko was my friend. The promise was silly, and I wouldn't let Aang murder our friend. Then I went back to the battle, leaving Aang alone. It almost broke me, but I had to stay strong for the battle. _

_I wanted to make Kuei see what I saw in this city, so I basically kingnapped him from his war balloon. Just when we were about to cross into the city, Aang appeared in the Avatar state. _

_He bent a giant ditch, almost a gorge around the city and between the opposing armies. Zuko stood at the edge and fell. _

_I swear my heart stopped beating, when he just vanished from my sight, into the ground. I was about to save him, when Aang already flew after him. _

_I cannot say how thankful I am that Aang didn't let Zuko die. Aang killing our friend would have broken my heart, I'm sure of it. _

_We made Kuei see what Yu Dao is, and then finally Aang took my side. He said Yu Dao was something else, something new, and that fighting it was fighting a whole new world, a world of all the elements. _

_And that's when Zuko collapsed. _

_I don't know how I didn't notice before. When he lay there on the ground, he looked much paler than usual, almost ashen. His face was so sunk in, and the circles under his eyes were so dark. He didn't just look exhausted, a moment I feared he was dead. _

_He looked like he hadn't slept in months and hadn't eaten at all. He looked so vulnerable and hurt. So alone. _

_I healed what I could, but only sleep will be able to make him recover. Sleep and food. _

_When Aang and I brought him to Ba Sing Se to Iroh, I fought hard not to cry. I can't believe it had to go down to this. _

_I feel like a bad friend. When Zuko first hinted at how he got his scar and was banished to me, I felt determined to make the rest of his life better and make him forget about this monster of a father. It was easy while staying at the summer house, or the palace, but I didn't do it over last year. _

_I'm determined now to write him letters, even if I won't be able to read his replies from my travels. I just feel like he needs someone. According to Suki, Mai broke up with him, and that in such a time, when Zuko is already ill and distraught. When I realised just how alone Zuko is, and what he has to endure, I felt that determination again, tenfold._

_I'm going to be a better friend from now on. I'm going to make amends. _

oOo

So Aang and Katara had been together then. Why hadn't it worked out? It would have made sense, even though Katara knew she didn't hold any romantic feelings for him. Maybe the arguing. But Fire Lord Zuko had said they argued, too. So what had caused them to break up?

Was it because of her bad conscience for being a bad friend why she was engaged to Fire Lord Zuko?

Well, it was six years ago, so she hoped not. She hoped she had actually grown to love him at one point. Not because she wanted to love him, but because she wanted to think of herself as someone who would only marry, when she was in love.

Although exhaustion made Katara's eyelids heavy, the last bit of the diary entry had been so thrilling that she just couldn't stop reading. There were still so many things open. Still so many questions.

She couldn't believe Aang had promised Fire Lord Zuko to kill him if he ever became crazy or evil. That was just so unlike Aang, especially since he'd spared Fire Lord Ozai. What had happened with Aang to make him think like that? Was it really Roku's influence?

And was Yu Dao, as it had been a colony, now part of this new nation? Was what she'd just read the beginning of the whole conflict Fire Lord Zuko and Aang had told her about earlier this day? Their way they had told her about it made it seem like some politicians had talked to each other calmly in a council room, not like there had almost been another war. No one had mentioned two armies!

Licking her lips, Katara glanced at the door and wondered how thrilled Fire Lord Zuko would be at her disrupting his sleep and ask nosy questions. The Zuko her former self described in this diary was different from the one she had seen today.

The diary Zuko was a lonely teenager who had got too powerful at a very young age, and didn't know how to handle the stress and expectations.

The today Zuko had seemed much more confident. His feelings were written all over his face, and although Katara thought she had seen longing on it, there certainly had been no trace of sadness or loneliness. He was better now.

Was it because she had kept her promise to herself? Was it because she had taken better care of him? Or had he found a way to be better for himself?

It would only reveal itself if she kept reading. She just hoped she had written all the important things down, as she had noticed her writing had seemed pretty sporadic with huge time gaps between the entries. But Katara could relate. She knew she wasn't that much of a continuity person. She was a practical person, and whenever there was something that needed her attention, she would go and not care about documenting everything. She guessed the HRM had kept her too busy to write a lot. And maybe she hadn't wanted Aang to know that she wrote a diary.

She lay on her back, looking at the dark wooden ceiling of the four poster bed, only an oil lamp on her nightstand to keep her light. The diary was closed and clasped in her hands, lying on her chest.

Thinking about the Fire Lord sleeping a room away from her, she pulled the blanket tighter around her, although she wasn't cold at all. She rolled on her side, placed the diary on the nightstand and put the lamp out.

She knew she had to get up early tomorrow, so she forced herself not to think about reading more. She wanted to know so much more, but she didn't want to be exhausted tomorrow morning.

Just as her eyelids grew heavier on her eyes, she heard the sound of metal creaking, and quickly sat up in bed.

Outside of the curtain she could see a fire hover in the air, probably held by a firebender.

"Katara? Are you still awake?" Fire Lord Zuko whispered.

She frowned. What did he want now? "I was about to sleep."

There was silence for a few moments. "Okay, I'm sorry. I just wanted to check that you're not reading the diary I gave you all night long. You should get up early tomorrow, and I'm sure you need rest. You must be exhausted from such a day."

Smiling against her will, she laid back on the mattress and rolled on her other side, pulling her knees close to her chest. "Thanks. I stopped reading a few minutes ago. I've got questions."

"I figured as much. We'll talk about it tomorrow. Sleep now."

"You, too," she murmured, as her eyelids drifted shut already.

"I will," he said, sounding amused. "Good night."

* * *

_Sorry again for a more serious chapter in which nothing really happens. I promise the next chapter will be much more fun! We'll have Sokka, Aang, and Toph again, as well as Appa and Momo!:D _

_So, I obviously changed parts of The Promise and added a scene, as I feel like this was more likely to have happened. The way Katara behaved throughout the comic whenever it came to Aang just didn't make any sense to me. This is not how she is. From the comics, I always just get the feeling that Bryke wants to crush the Zutarians by making Aang and Katara disgustingly happy, with Katara only a shadow of her former self, and now the perfect, beautiful, supportive girlfriend. And she never interacts with Zuko alone, which doesn't make sense to me, either, even if they are just friends, Katara is the kind of person who makes sure that her friends are fine. She's not that kind of person who would only care about her boyfriend! Or who would be okay with Aang being so racist! Argh! It's frustrating._

_Anyway, above I wrote how it should have, and how it could have been, with Katara more in character, and without jeopardising Aang's and her relationship. Of course I'm going to jeopardise it, since she'll end up with Zuko, but I just mean that it could have been possible for the writers of The Promise. _

_And this is just my opinion, so please just tolerate it, you don't have to accept it, but since this is obviously a Zutara story, I guess most of you would agree to a certain extent with me. What I mean is that I'm aware of other opinions, and I accept them, too._


	7. Chapter 7

_Hi everyone! I've finally managed to get the next chapter out!_

_A big thank you to everyone who favourited, followed, or reviewed! You guys are the best! Special thanks to CeCeHigganbotham for even reading this! When you wrote me, you read this, I almost fell over from shock! That _you _read a story of _mine_!_

_I hope you all enjoy reading the next chapter! _

_I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters._

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Katara woke up to the sounds of doors opening and closing, voices whispering and dishes clattering.

It was still dark outside as far as she could tell, and she wondered what idiots were already awake. It were probably just Aang and Sokka trying to come up with a scheme or simply talking about boys' stuff. But since when did Sokka get up so early?

More importantly, why was the air not biting cold, and how come her bed was so comfortable?

She sat up with a jolt, as she remembered the previous day. She'd found out she lost her memory, and now she was betrothed to the new Fire Lord, who had been the angry jerk prince who had chased them, kidnapped her, bribed her, and had fought her at the Spirit Oasis. And now he loved her.

Katara threw the dark, red curtains around her a dry glare. Well, wasn't that just lovely!

The sound of a door opening came to her ears again.

"I bet she's still asleep. You would need lots of sleep after such a day," she heard a male voice whisper.

"It's still weird seeing you having breakfast alone. Like some lonely puppy who nobody loves," a female voice taunted.

"Since you can't see, I should tell you, I'm rolling my eyes," the male voice replied dryly. Now, Katara was fairly sure she knew who these voices belonged to.

"She's actually awake, you know. Her heartbeat has got faster," Toph told him nonchalantly.

"Really?" her fiancé asked.

"Yes, really. Your attempts at whispering would wake anyone up," Katara grumbled, as she shoved the curtain of the four poster bed to the side and got up, putting on fancy house slippers with pearls kneaded into them. Outside the bed curtains, the curtains at the windows were also still shut, but with a few streams of sunlight falling in. No wonder she had thought it was still night.

As she walked around the bed to look at the entrance door, only Fire Lord Zuko was still standing there, Toph had apparently already left. The Fire Lord was already dressed for the day, in way fancier robes than yesterday. There was even a cape hanging from his shoulder plates, trimmed with gold. Today, all of his hair was up in that knot with the large crown sitting in it.

The whole image was a bit disconcerting. He was the most Fire Nation looking person she had ever seen. Not even his scar did anything against that, or changed it.

"Good morning," he greeted her with a tentative smile. "Have we really woken you up?"

Katara rubbed her eyes, feeling the sleepy feeling return at the sight of his smile. She had to tell herself again that he was no threat, and her body seemed to instantly relax. "Only a little. Doors opening and shutting, and dishes clattering actually woke me." She held a hand in front of her mouth, yawning.

He was still smiling at her, his expression went even softer than before. "I guess this means you never were a morning person."

Against her will, Katara grinned. "Nope, never. I still aren't then?"

He shook his head. "Oh no, of course not. But the days in the Fire Nation start way earlier. You're still the latest riser in the palace, although you usually get up around half an hour earlier to get ready. Then we have breakfast together."

She frowned at him. "And why didn't you wake me up?"

He rubbed his neck. "Well, I thought letting you sleep would rather make you warm up to me than insisting you get by your day on your previous routine."

She blinked. "Oh. Well, that makes sense," she murmured, looking away from him, hugging herself, as she wondered at how to proceed with the conversation.

"There's still breakfast set out if you want some," he said, nodding towards the antechamber. "I can call for Sokka, if you want to. I'm pretty sure he's still asleep, but if you want to get to the countryside today, you should hurry. Aang is already with Appa, he's very excited about the field trip." His lips formed a smirk, as if that was some private joke, which Katara didn't know about.

"Oh, er, sure," she said, faltering a bit. She had thought he would come with them. Not that she had been particularly keen on it, but the way he had talked yesterday seemed like he was determined for her to get to know him better. And what better way than spending time together? But he was probably too busy ruling, punishing people, signing prisoner sentences, and all that.

She frowned at her thoughts, when she looked back at him. He had already turned around to head back into the antechamber.

Katara frowned. She had just wanted to tell him something! And he just left!

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she stomped out behind him. Her chest was still uncomfortably large. How could one live with this thing? Or two things.

Fortunately, she hadn't woken up in nothing but a short tunic again. Probably because fourteen-year-old Katara had dressed for bed, and not twenty-one-year old Katara. Now she wore light blue silk pants which ended under her knee with a silky dress made of a dark blue fabric with blue flowers on it.

She ran her hand through her hair, scratching her head, as she stopped in horror.

Quickly dashing around, she ran into the bathroom, stopping in front of the sink, staring at her reflection. What the dee sea was wrong with her? She had just got up and would have followed her former arch-enemy, now fiancé out of the room just like that? Had she gone completely mad?

Her hair was an absolute mess! She liked sleeping with her hair down, as it was more comfortable, the bad thing was just that it looked like a merle raven's nest in the morning.

Katara bent some water into her hair to make brushing it easier. She wondered if she should try one of the hair lotions in the dresser, but she decided she didn't want to read every tag on them before finding one that would make her hair smooth and give it a nice scent. After her hair looked nice and shiny, falling in soft waves, she tucked it behind her ears, and then proceeded to wash her face, before brushing her teeth.

Although she wouldn't mind the Fire Lord getting disgusted with her and then breaking the engagement off, it was firstly unlikely to happen, as it also stood for peace, secondly she was sure she wouldn't be able to stand herself without taking care of hygiene.

She picked up a shell shaped perfume bottle and sprayed it into the air. Katara almost groaned at that scent. It was incredibly sweet, she thought she had never smelled something so flowery. Well, she had never smelled anything flowery, but that was really nice. A tiny bit sour, too.

Flashing herself a smile in the mirror, she was relatively satisfied with her appearance. It was just breakfast, after all.

Before emerging from the bathroom, however, she braided her hair along her forehead to make sure it wouldn't fall into her face.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, as she told herself again and again that she could do this. Prince Zuko had never tried to really kill them, after all. He could have killed her at the Spirit Oasis, but he didn't. Incapacitating seemed to be enough for him, so he couldn't have been that evil, right? Or perhaps he had thought he'd killed her, or hadn't bothered to check if she still had a pulse… Her heart began to pound faster at that thought. No, even if, he had changed. She had to believe what Sokka and Aang had told her. She had to believe that he would stay as relatively pleasant as he'd been yesterday, and she had to believe that his understanding of love was the same as hers so that his "I love you" actually meant what it implied to her.

While Katara was eating her breakfast, sliced fruits, fried dough sticks, eggs, and rice porridge (which was a way more normal breakfast than she had thought the Fire Lord would have), the Fire Lord himself was only drinking a strong smelling dark brown liquid, occasionally glancing out of the window, or at her.

A scroll was lying on his lap, and she wondered if he was actually trying to get some work done, but he seemed no to be able to concentrate very much.

Katara chose to break the uncomfortable silence. "So, I read about how almost another war broke out six years ago," she said casually.

He stiffened. "You read that much? I thought the diary started just after the war?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but I didn't write often in the diary, so it didn't take many pages to get to that part." She shrugged, trying to sound nonchalantly, when she was actually bursting with curiosity. "And I just have to ask, did maybe another war happen during the last seven years?"

"No!" the Fire Lord shouted, looking shocked. "No, we… Well, there were civil wars, but no world wars."

"Civil Wars? Here?"

The Fire Lord grimaced. "Yeah, here, too. Although it was not as bad as in the Earth Kingdom, or the Water Tribes."

"What? The Water Tribes?" Katara was shocked. There had been a civil war? Why and when and how?

"It was more like a rebellion. The Northern Water Tribe was meddling too much with the South, and the Southerners wanted all the Northerners gone. They wanted to be independent, but we managed to sort it all out." He nodded at her in a reassuring way. Katara was surprised he managed to even make her truly feel reassured.

"We?"

"Yeah, all of us. Aang, Sokka, Toph, you, and me," he said, smiling.

Katara smiled. "Sounds like something we would do. Stopping a war and all."

His smiled turned almost into a grin. "You wouldn't have ever thought you'd say that about me, would you?"

Katara blinked, confused by this statement. Did he consider this funny? "Er…"

It almost looked like a blush was creeping up his neck. "Well, it's obvious you wouldn't have thought something like this."

"Er, no. But that makes it so surprising," she added, trying to get the amount of uncomfortableness out of the conversation.

He gave a strained smile, maybe he was feeling just as awkward as she. Then again, this in front of her was no insecure teenage boy, but a grown man, a head of state. He probably didn't get socially awkward.

"Does that mean the Southern Water Tribe is independent now?" Katara asked curiously. She had liked the Northern Water Tribe, but had hated their views on women. Being independent would probably not be too bad.

But the Fire Lord shook his head. "No. The rebel group was quite radical, as they wanted all meddling from other nations gone. They tried to kill people of other nations who were there at the time."

Her eyes widened in shock, as she wondered how her own people could have been so horrible. Did that mean they had wanted to kill Toph and the Fire Lord, too?

Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door.

The Fire Lord let out a sigh, before he turned around to yell at the door. "Come in!"

At his command, the door opened, and a guard stepped through.

Katara's blood froze. He almost looked like one of the soldiers accompanying Prince Zuko chasing them, accompanying Zhao chasing them, and attacking the North Pole. Clad in red and grey with black trims, the guard wore a helmet, carried a sword at his side, and held a spear in his right hand.

She swallowed, hoping to successfully hide her fear. Her heart started to beat faster, and the blood rushed through her body. She felt apprehension building inside of her, and immediately looked for the nearest water source.

"Your Majesty," the guard greeted the Fire Lord and bowed deeply, before looking at Katara. "Your Highness," he addressed her with and bowed to her, too.

She blinked and tried not to show her confusion at being addressed with such a title. Did being the Fire Lord's fiancée already make it possible for her to be addressed with such a high title?

"Prince Sokka is requesting entrance, Your Majesty," the guard told the Fire Lord.

"Let him in," he answered in a normal, not stuck up tone.

_Prince Sokka? _What the deep sea?

The guard bowed again, and left the room, Sokka striding in right after.

"Katara!" he shouted, walking up to her.

Katara flinched by his loud voice.

The Fire Lord had his eyes narrowed at Sokka. "What's up? Isn't it a bit too early for you?" he asked.

Did he just seriously ask 'What's up?' The Fire Lord? Had just said 'What's up?' Katara blinked, feeling not only surprised, but also slightly amused.

"Well, we're late," Sokka complained, stemming his hands on his hips, glaring at Katara.

"Late?" She blinked in confusion.

"Sokka, you can wait a few more minutes. She's still having breakfast, and I let her sleep in."

Katara sniffed. "I'm right here, and I wouldn't have needed to sleep in," she said with a glare in the Fire Lord's direction.

Instead of glaring back, he just stiffened and took a deep breath. "You just lost your memory of seven years, and yesterday you learned that you're going to marry your former enemy, so I simply worried, and thought more sleep might be good for you," he explained, but not without a note of annoyance in his tone. Instead of looking at her, he grabbed his cup again and seemed to bury his face in it.

Sokka grimaced. "I still don't get how you can drink this stuff. It always makes me choke."

The Fire Lord shrugged. "I eat and drink a lot of things which would make you choke, you know," he said with a teasing tone to his voice.

She had seen them bickering yesterday, too, but it was still so weird and strange seeing them not only getting along, but clearly being good friends. Sokka seemed to like him a lot, she thought.

But now, he was glaring at their former enemy. "It only proves that you have no sense of flavour whatsoever."

"If you say so," the firebender replied, turning back, but grinning into his mug.

Sokka glowered a few moments longer, before turning back to Katara, who had no interest in knowing what Sokka was going to say, but in finding out what this had been about.

"What was that about?" she asked, before Sokka could say something.

"Your brother's insecurity about his manliness," the Fire Lord replied smoothly.

Katara sighed. She should have known that.

"No, this was about the non-existence of any taste buds in your fiancé's mouth," Sokka interjected. "The hot food here probably burnt it away."

Katara frowned. "But not everything yesterday was hot," she objected.

"Well, the cooks are adapting their food, because we're foreigners." Sokka shrugged, looking thoughtful, but that wasn't what Katara had thought about.

"Hot as in spicy, Katara," the Fire Lord interjected, and she found it highly disturbing how he had known exactly what she had thought. She had thought they were talking about warm dishes, not spicy ones. How could he know her better than her own brother?

"I knew that," she still held against him, but his raised eyebrow told her what he thought about her ability to lie.

He probably knew her well enough to say when she was lying or telling the truth, too.

Sokka gestured to the Fire Lord. "He just eats and drinks things which have too much flavour, and not even nice flavour like sweet, but bitter, sour, and he's immune to spiciness, too."

"Well, and Sokka thought I was challenging his manliness, when I ate something very spicy in front of him once. He tried to do that, too, every time, but it's just not everyone's thing. I simply like these flavours, I am not trying to overcome any pain I might get from that," the Fire Lord explained.

Katara grimaced. "That's Water Tribe mentality to you. Proving manliness was always held twice a week between the adults, and Sokka always sneaked away to watch them," she told him sarcastically.

Both men looked at her with a thunderstruck impression.

"What?" she asked apprehensively, before groaning in annoyance. "Please don't tell me they've really come up with something like this in the last years!"

The Fire Lord shook his head.

"No, it's just… You basically said the same thing, when we had that fight for the first time," Sokka mused, having a strange expression on his face.

Katara paled. "Oh." Was that good? Did that mean her memories would come back? Did she even want them to come back? She would remember important things, right. But she would also remember having a relationship with the former Prince Zuko, and that thought still appalled her a little.

"It's not a fight!" the Fire Lord objected indignantly, looking up at Sokka from his sitting position. "It's just you being stupid!"

Sokka rolled his eyes, and Katara was glad that for once in his life Sokka did not get into an indignant fight, but focused on the more important things. Or the things more important to him. He carefully glanced over their breakfast table.

"There's no meat here!" he whined.

The Fire Lord flicked his scroll on Sokka's arm, which caused Sokka to glare at her, and not at him. "Thanks for making him do that, too," he said darkly, rubbing his arm.

"I did?" She blinked.

"When you're spending a lot of time with someone, some of their mannerisms get adopted by you," the Fire Lord explained, looking at her from under his lashes.

"Anyway, Katara would you please hurry up? Aang is a very excited bouncy ball right now, and Appa is already ready to leave. We have packed food for lunch, and in the afternoon we'll be back here to do some sightseeing. If Mister Fire Lord Zuko Sir has time then, he will join us for dinner," Sokka told her in an excited, but also annoyed voice.

"Don't call me that," Mister Fire Lord Zuko Sir said darkly.

This name would ridicule him in her head, which wasn't a bad thing, but it was definitely too long.

oOo

Being up on Appa was like being back home. It had only been a day in her new, crazy life, but they also hadn't been on Appa for quite a few weeks, spent in the Northern Water Tribe, and Katara revelled in the feeling. Having for a change warm air whipping around her braid wasn't a bad feeling either.

She had immediately taken the place on Appa's head next to Aang to be able to caress he bison's head, although she wondered if he even felt her tiny hand between all his fur. However, she had clearly made up for this by tightly hugging him around his neck as much as she could, when she had seen him for the first time. His low rumble had definitely been affectionate. And when he had licked her face off, she hadn't even felt as disgusted as she normally way.

She was also very keen on talking to Aang.

What she had found out in the diary left her quite curious, but also a little worried about him. If the way she had written everything down was honest, then something had been clearly wrong with Aang back then.

"Hey, Aang? Can I ask you something?" Katara worried her lip, as she looked over a him, absentmindedly stroking Momo's stomach. The little lemur seemed to have noticed that she wasn't in the best of moods, and while he tried to make her feel better, he also clearly took advantage of her.

"Sure!" He beamed at her. "I guess you have loads of questions! But I'm not telling you where we're going! That's a surprise!"

She smiled fondly at him. "That's okay. It's just… Well, the F… er, Z-Zuko gave me a diary of mine yesterday, and I read that we became a couple after the war. Why did we break up?"

Aang's eyes widened, as he raised his eyebrows at her. "Until when did you read?"

"Er, the whole thing with the colonies, and how almost a second war broke out…"

He nodded, looking off across the ocean. "Well, we already had some problems then, and although we managed to get through them, they showed up again and again. And with time, we both just stopped loving each other. Nothing really bad happened, but we noticed how other things were more important to us. You used to suppress your needs in order to please me, and when you stopped and demanded from me that I should do the same thing, I realised that I couldn't. We didn't break up then," he added, shooting her a quick glance. "We were both in love with the idea of staying together to marry, you know. How you found me in the ice, and how we travelled. It felt like destiny to us, and we tried to force it to work. You went to the Southern Water Tribe for a while, and we barely saw each other, and none of us asked to see each other. A few months later, we met again, and somehow it was clear to both of us that it was over." He smiled sadly at her. "Although I stopped loving you in that way, I sometimes still miss our time together. It's odd, but it was nice having someone at my side. And we usually got along wonderfully, we didn't fight often. But in the end, there was something missing."

Katara bit down on her lip, thinking about his words. "When Sokka said yesterday I was going to marry, I thought of you first. Aunt Wu told me I was going to marry a powerful bender, and with the way you saved the town from a volcano… I just thought it would be you," she confessed, silently. "I wasn't very keen on it, as I only saw you as a little brother. I still do, I mean, at the Northern Water Tribe, I did. But you're not exactly little anymore," she ended awkwardly.

Aang giggled. "Of course you would believe Aunt Wu. But she was probably still right, you know. Zuko is a very powerful bender. I'd say the second most powerful firebender in the world, and since Iroh is not getting fitter with age, maybe even the most powerful," he mused.

Katara's eyes widened. Not in wonder, or amazement, but in fear. "When Aunt Wu said that, I never thought of a firebender…" Her eyes drifted down to Momo, who had his eyes closed, and he looked like he was asleep, but the twitching of his ears told her he was just really enjoying her ministrations. If her were part cat, he would surely purr by now.

Aang looked at her with a worried expression, as he grabbed her hand, squeezing it. "I get that you're afraid, Katara. But with time you'll see that there's absolutely no reason to worry. Zuko would never hurt you, and no one else in the Fire Nation would. Well, at least no one who isn't already imprisoned." He grinned cheekily at her.

She tried to look at him in a convinced and assured manner, but the twist in the stomach was still clearly there.

About two hours later – Katara had settled into the saddle – they landed on an incredibly green island. There were lots of hills, rivers, lakes, and waterfalls, all she had been able to see from above. The meadows were full of wild flowers, and blooming bushes and trees lined the edges of the woods.

"Are we still in the Fire Nation?" she asked, mouth agape in wonder, as she looked around, before jumping down from Appa.

"Yeah. There is no other place on Earth where the air is this humid," Toph snorted.

She was right. It was incredibly humid. The air was so heavy, Katara almost felt dizzy.

"Well, if we would have left earlier, the air would still be more pleasant," said Sokka in a flippant way.

"Well, we're actually in a more temperate part of the Fire Nation. It's still beautiful, isn't it, Katara?" Aang cried out, gesturing with his arms at the meadow and river.

Katara nodded, dumbfounded. "I can't believe it's so beautiful here. And there's so much water! I thought the whole Fire Nation would look like Crescent Island!"

Sokka frowned. "There are a few islands which look like that. It's due to the eruption of a volcano, mostly. But the volcanoes don't erupt often. Once in a thousand years one goes boom, and a few years after that, all kinds of plants grow on the hardened lava."

"Zuko mentioned that yesterday, but I couldn't believe him." She still felt slightly breathless from the humidity and beauty surrounding her. Without glancing at her friends, she walked closer to the river, seeing a waterfall ahead of her. Grinning wildly, she quickly tossed off her outer tunic and pants.

"What are you doing, Katara?!" Sokka shrieked, holding one hand over Aang's eyes.

"Why, I'm going for a swim," she said, rolling her eyes. "There's a waterfall!" she explained, excitement lacing her tone. It had been too cold in the Earth Kingdom to do more than take a quick bath on her first travels with Aang and Sokka.

"But you cannot undress yourself like that!"

Katara opened her mouth to remind him that to save time, they had always bathed together while being on the way to the Earth Kingdom, and she had always worn her bindings, which were covering enough. Okay, well, the Fire Nation underwear didn't cover quite as much, but still enough. The pants didn't stop short above her knee, but a little under her bum instead, for example.

"Katara, back then we were all practically kids! We were teenagers, okay, but now we're adults, you're a grown woman now, with a fiancé! You can't undress yourself in front of another man!" Sokka scolded.

Frowning, Katara looked over to Aang. She got what Sokka was saying, but she still thought it was silly. "But we're just friends," she objected.

Sokka rolled his eyes. "That might be. But…"

"Oh, stop it, Sokka!" Toph groaned. "You're so antiquated in your views on relationships! Fire Nation people undress themselves all the time in front of other people! How else would they bear this heat? Even if someone would see us, no one here would think it odd!"

The reasoning was not the same, but Katara still held the same opinion as Toph.

In the Southern Water Tribe undressing was, of course, taken seriously. One only did that in an igloo, where it warm, and only with family. Even children didn't run around naked, it was simply too cold for that, but in their igloo Katara and Sokka had always been bathed together with their family, as hot water had been difficult to make, and had taken too long to give everyone a private go.

Aang pulled Sokka's hand off his face, and chuckled, giving his friend an odd, but amused look. "Honestly, Sokka. The Fire Nation doesn't care, and the Air Nomads never cared either." He shrugged.

Sokka narrowed his eyes. "You separated women and men in different temples!"

Not being in the mood for any more bickering between her brother and friend over something nonsensical, Katara jumped into the river.

For a while, she let herself be pulled under, simply felt and enjoyed the familiar feeling of water around her. Here, in her own element, in nature, not a bathtub, not surrounded by red, not in a fancy palace, she felt finally a little lighter.

Water didn't only make her feel like herself, but it also always helped her to feel more confident of herself, to be surer in what she wanted and needed.

When she thought she had been submerged long enough, she bent a stream to rise her up again, and then stood on the surface, bending ice under her feet. The cold feeling made her feel more awake and focused, as she thrust her arms behind her, and bent a wave, which pushed her forward towards the waterfall.

oOo

After playing in the water (Toph's words), having fun (Aang's words), and nearly dying (Sokka's words), Toph bent them a few seats, on which they enjoyed their lunch.

Sokka had become serious and told Katara not to do so many dangerous, adrenaline requiring actions, as this could prove harmful to her mind. He said it was a fragile thing, and her mind was already injured through memory loss. She had to be careful what she was doing, or worse things could happen to her, or she might never regain her memory at all.

Apparently, the mind hadn't been thoroughly researched by scientists yet, so Sokka hadn't been able to find anything useful in the palace's library last night. The Fire Nation was the most progressed nation, and if even they hadn't any material on it… But Sokka was fairly sure that there were a lot of current studies, nothing yet proved or finished, though.

Sokka let slip that instead of ruling, punishing people, and scaring people, the Fire Lord was meeting with doctors and specialists today. He wanted to find a treatment to either make her memory come back, or to stabilise her fragile mind.

Katara only gave Sokka dry looks, as she groaned in her head over her rice pastries. She felt completely fine! Her mind was not fragile, and she didn't experience weird mind things!

To her dismay, Toph and Aang sided with Sokka on this. They said they believed Katara to be strong enough to get through this, but since no one seemed to know a lot about it, they would just feel better if they knew they were being cautious.

And just like that Katara also found out that this whole trip to the countryside had not only served to show her the beauty of the Fire Nation, but to get her to a calm place, which would not cause her to panic.

Even later, when they would go into the city, they would only visit a very calm area, since only extremely rich people lived there.

Katara felt treated like a baby.

oOo

Spending the day in the countryside was far nicer than yesterday had been, and Katara almost didn't want to go back. Okay, she definitely didn't want to go back, but she knew she had to.

It had always been kind of obvious to her that she would one day marry not out of love, but of need to keep her tribe populated. She would meet the men her age of the other villages, and hope that the one she had liked the most would ask her father for her hand. Maybe Katara would even fall for him, and he for her, maybe not. It would mostly still have been her decision who she would marry, but love was a rare outcome of these arrangements. After travelling with Aang, however, Katara had begun to wonder if maybe there was someone out there for her. She didn't have to think small, and she thought marrying a nice waterbender from the North Pole would be a good decision. This way, they could probably ensure the line of waterbenders in the South Pole to continue. This had been before she had noticed all of the Northern men to be sexist idiots, of course.

So having to marry someone she didn't care about was not so much of a shock to her. His nation was the biggest shock, his job the second, and who he actually was, and what he had done, the third.

But Katara tried not to think too much about Prince Zuko, because that would only make her panic and worry to no end. The Fire Lord also didn't seem like the person he used to be, so Katara felt comfortable enough, when she didn't dwell on his past.

The flight back to the capital was quite nice. Toph was dosing, snoring a little, Aang sat at the reins, and Sokka tried to tell her everything he knew about the capital, as they would visit it in a few minutes.

"The capital is like… Er, like the residences closest to the palace in the Northern Water Tribe. You remember these huge houses for just one family? Right? Okay, so only rich people live in the capital, but of course some are extremely rich. The people working for the government or in high favour of Zuko live closest to the palace. The little nobles, who are actually not doing anything to help ruling the nation, live at the edge of the caldera. It's all very luxurious, and there are quite a few public gardens, which are lovely, and two or three lakes. One is mostly for the royal family, or everyone who actually lives in the palace. After Zuko was crowned Fire Lord, he opened that place even to the servants, so they could relax during their breaks. The volcano is completely dormant, so you do not have to fear to be covered in lava all of a sudden," Sokka continued, lowering one of his fingers at every point he made. "Most of the people there are stuck up and completely stiff. They only loosen up for celebrations, like holidays, and when they're drunk. The people who have humour are mostly only the guards, servants, Uncle Iroh, Noren, and sometimes Zuko. But Zuko only developed a sense of humour due to constantly being exposed to us. He's terrible at normal jokes, but he sometimes makes funny remarks on how he used to be the bad, evil guy."

Katara raised her eyebrows. Seriously? Jokes about chasing children around the globe, aiming fire their way?

"Well, and now we'll go to a place close to the lake on the palace grounds. It overlooks the lake, actually, and behind it you can see the palace. Zuko has a private chamber in that restaurant. You loved going there," he added, almost in a sad tone.

"Around the restaurant, there is kind of the creative spot of the city. There's a theatre, an opera house, art galleries. We thought about showing you all this before dinner."

Her eyes widened at her brother's words. Honestly? She's never been to a theatre before! The closest thing to that was that stage of the firebender artist at the Fire Day festival. She didn't really know what to expect of all this, but her curiosity was definitely peaked.

"I'd love to see that!" she exclaimed with a wide smile.

Sokka's words proved to be true. Behind the lake were several streets holding music shops, galleries, book stores, small stages for poetry, larger stages for theatres, and the biggest building held the special fire theatre.

It was a rather calm afternoon, not many people were out in the streets, and all who were wore incredibly beautiful clothes, which seemed to be made of the finest of fabrics, their hairs all gleaming and shining in simple, but elegant styles. Katara felt a little out of place with her braid and fine, blue tunic, but definitely too simple for this environment. Her brother and friends, however, were similarly dressed as her. Practical, nice looking clothes of a good quality, but none of them was dressed up.

Fire theatre wasn't just theatre. The actors also sang and danced, and bent fire. They used it to form figures, mostly mythical creatures, such as dragons, and spirits. The fire was also used for the dances, spraying around the dancers, mirroring their movements, or rising around them like wings.

Katara was afraid at first, remembering how the stage artist at the Fire Day Festival had directed his fire dragon at her. Seeing so much fire made her uneasy, but clasping Sokka's hand, she managed to calm herself down, and after a while she found herself enjoying the show. It was a story of tragic lovers, being forced to live on different sides of a war for all their lifetimes. They either got to stop the war, or to be together, but never managed to make both happen within a lifetime. When they stopped the war, they remembered their past lives, and knew they could never be together. When they got together, they remembered, too, and knew they could never stop the war. Until a spirit, who took pity on them, stopped the war they were born in. Now, they could be together, but then the spirit fell in love with the mortal woman, too, and tried to take her away from her lover. Several family members and other spirits showed up, and suddenly there was a huge meddle of who loved who, and Katara was left completely confused.

"Oh, I think they hanged on the new part!" Sokka gushed.

Toph grinned. "Finally. I've been waiting forever to find out what Kosei will say to Shizuoka now that he remembers they made out. That stupid mage of the mind really annoyed me, but now that she knows she's actually in love with Atako, she's definitely going to help Kosei and Shizuoka along."

Aang groaned. "Kosei and Shizuoka made out? What? I totally missed that part!" he complained.

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Well, they showed that part last month, and you only arrived here about a week ago."

"Do you think the script is already available?" Aang asked hopefully, but quickly looked down, when Sokka shook his head, grimacing.

Toph took a step towards Katara and began talking to her from the corner of her mouth. "The play is performed every month, and they add a few scenes every time. That's how you find out what happens next, and it's never really over. The first performance lasted around twenty minutes, now it's three hours!"

Katara found that concept not too bad, but still weird. Why wouldn't the actors just perform a play for three hours once and be done with it?

Toph seemed to guess her thoughts, as she simply shrugged and said "The Fire Nation people love this sort of thing. It's traditional."

Slowly, Katara nodded and looked around more, as she didn't manage to keep making sense of the actions on stage. Only now, did she realise that the people were staring at them. They had landed on Appa next to the lake, secluded of the public eye, but still everyone seemed to recognise them now. Well, with them wearing their nation's colours it was actually no big surprise.

As she concentrated she clearly made out single words. _"… Avatar Aang, because of…"_, _"… Master Katara… the royal wedding… waterbender…"_, _"Toph Beifong… metal… Republic City…"_, _"Sokka… Southern Water Tribe… chief or coun…"_. Since Katara was sure, she lacked a lot of background knowledge to understand everything the crowd was murmuring, some things they said didn't make sense to her, and she dismissed them.

She began to fidget nervously. Although she trusted Sokka and her friends, when they meant they wouldn't be harmed by Fire Nation citizens, and Katara theoretically knew there was no war anymore, she still didn't feel completely at ease. There was so much red and fire around her, and now people were staring and whispering. As far as she could remember this had always led to accusations, shouts, and running away from fireballs.

Now that Katara had admired the little shops, huge stages, food carts, and ball shaped, orange lanterns hanging on the buildings and on strings over the streets, the real meaning of all this seemed to get through to her. She was standing in the Fire Nation capital, surrounded by Fire Nation people, and Fire Nation things. Everyone here seemed to know who she and her friends and brother were. She couldn't help herself but tense and wait for the moment of an attack.

The moment came, but not like she had anticipated it.

Katara was attacked on her elbow by a person from behind her. Tensing, she whirled around to lash out, but her wrist was swiftly caught in a fist, and her body was yanked forward to fall against a broader, taller one.

"We're in public, don't act like we're not a couple," a deep, raspy voice sounded at her ear.

The onslaught of emotions was almost too much to handle for her. Never ever had she been so close to a man or boy her age, standing almost flush against him. Her eyes were wide, as her breasts pressed into his chest, and she could feel all the hard planes beneath her, since he wore a simple tunic.

The Fire Lord was maybe a normal man her age, but for a fourteen year old girl, he was more than intimidating and fascinating on a whole different level. All other boys had always been lean, with some muscles, but only from work or survival. The waterbenders in her class had all been idiots towards her, and had been idiots by themselves, too. Not one had been interesting for her.

She could feel his arms around hers, his hands lightly on her waist, but she could still feel their form on her dress. He had large hands, something Aunt Wu had told her her future husband would have. His arms felt huge against her frame, but she also knew that she was still thinking of herself as a small, fourteen year old girl, not a grown woman. In comparison to an adult woman, the Fire Lord probably didn't seem so much like a volcano himself. Her nose was almost crushed against his collarbone, as she could peak over his shoulder, seeing four guards standing behind him with some distance.

The worst thing of all was his head next to hers. He had bent down to talk to her, and now his cheek almost brushed hers, his breath fanning against her hair. She felt breathless, and her hands twitched in his hold. She wished she could lift them to hold onto his chest to not completely lose her balance, and she didn't know if she felt fear or something else in this moment.

The Fire Lord moved his head as if to kiss her, lingered like that, his mouth close to her cheek. "It's just for appearances, Katara. Everyone still has to believe we're a happy, loving couple." His quiet, husky voice almost made her shiver. When he was talking like that, his voice sounded way nicer than when he was shouting. It almost remembered her of the way he had talked to her when he had bound her to a tree. Only that now, his voice lacked malice.

She could tell he tried to assure her, and she found herself nodding.

Almost feeling his smile against her cheek, she let out a shuddering breath, as he retreated, but kept one of her hands in his.

All of her concentration zoomed on his grip, on his warm, dry hand, slightly calloused, but still soft, and how well her hand seemed to fit into his. His seemed to envelope hers, completely engorge it, but the way their palms fitted into each other felt so different from her hand holding experiences with Haru, Jet, Aang, and Teo. Katara liked to think that holding on to someone else's hand could give a person strength, and whenever a person around her seemed sad, she would take their hand in hers. But it had never captured all of her attention like this. Gazing down on their intertwined hands, she couldn't help but marvel at the difference in colour. An almost creamy white against a walnut brown. They looked like complete opposites, and they probably were so, too.

As soon as there was some distance between them, a furry, white, flying thing affection-attacked the Fire Lord, pressing its nose into his cheek. Momo held himself upright by grabbing strands of the Fire Lord's hair.

Katara's eyes widened in astonishment and shock. She knew humans could be manipulated, but for an animal to show affection so genuinely, it must mean that the human couldn't be so bad. Or that he was trustworthy, at least.

"Hey, Momo," the Fire Lord murmured, giving the little lemur some dried fruits from his pocket. He smiled, as he lifted one hand to scratch Momo behind his ears.

Katara's mouth fell open. The Fire Lord, not only the Fire Lord, but the guy who used to chase them around, who used to be Prince Zuko, carried dried fruit around in his pocket to feed it to animals?

Her friends smiled or smirked at them, as they turned around to greet their firebender friend, too.

"Is it over already?", the Fire Lord nodded at the stage, "I'd like to go to a more secluded area," he said, glancing around a little uncomfortably.

They had attracted a rather large crowd, and many people seemed to point at the couple, whispering to each other about the soon wedding.

"Oh yeah! Finally!" Sokka called out. "Can't wait for the barbecue!"

* * *

_Thanks for reading!:D_


	8. Chapter 8

_Okay, wow, I'm sorry I didn't update this story in a long while now. Writing this chapter took me long, and then my other fics were also in need of new chapters..._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. _

_I don't own Avatar The Last Airbender, nor its characters. The only characters I own are my OCs._

* * *

**Chapter Eight**

The restaurant really showed Katara proof of the Fire Nation's changed ideologies. It was embellished with sun and dragon patterns, but she rarely found any black flames, which reminded her so of the fire military. And then the flowers everywhere. Blooming bushes were standing everywhere in large buckets, and bouquets were standing in vases on every table. The Fire Lord's private table held a large white porcelain vase with pink, orange, and white flowers in all shades. The flowers were lovely, with filled blossoms, incredibly many petals on each. Katara had decided these were from now on her favourite flowers. She didn't know how they were called, as she hadn't asked.

Although the place was almost directly next to the palace, in a very rich part of the city, Katara hadn't the impression that it was a very noble restaurant. It was certainly the noblest one she had ever been to, as far as she could remember, but although the menu sounded expensive and every guest wore at least one piece of jewellery, the atmosphere was still… normal. Maybe the restaurant was still impressive in more subtle ways.

Her friends, brother, and fiancé had all sat around a round table, various dishes put into the middle, where everyone could serve themselves. Katara had been put between Sokka and the Fire Lord. The Fire Lord had excused himself for the seating arrangement, but since they were in public, even though it was a private room, it would be better if she sat next to him.

She had looked at him incredibly. Didn't he want to be close to her? Wasn't that what people in love usually were doing?

"You don't have to sit next to me if you don't want to," Katara told him amicably, which almost caused his eyeballs to fall out.

"What? No!" he exclaimed in shock, before clearing his throat, glancing nervously at his guards, who were standing at the entrance to the room and next to the large open windows, which were leading onto a balcony. "I-I meant it because of you," he stuttered, clenching his fists in an attempt at regaining his composure, before taking a deep breath. "I can't believe you could be comfortable with sitting next to me, but…"

Katara's mouth opened in a little o. "Er, no. It's okay for me."

His expression immediately softened, and the smile he directed at her almost seemed satisfied. He nodded. "I'm glad."

It felt almost uncomfortable to her, seeing him obviously happy at her agreeing not to mind to sit next to him. It was just sitting. It's not like Katara was holding grudges so much that she didn't want to sit next to him. She wouldn't avoid him as if he had the rabies. But then she had to think about how he told her about how much she had contemned him after he had joined their group. Maybe that was still on his mind.

Sokka seemed equally surprised, as he sat down next to Katara.

The dinner was delicious, and Katara loved all of the meals she tried, apart from the one pig chicken dish that was just too spicy for her to eat. The Fire Lord ate most of it, and Sokka tried it, too, always accompanied by a steamed bun filled with not spicy meat. It was just what they had argued about this morning, and Katara found it incredibly amusing sitting between them. She glanced over at her fiancé several times during the dinner and found that she liked how he looked when he was bickering with her brother. Aang and Toph talked a lot between themselves, but when the conversation turned towards some affairs of state, how things were going financially and economically, Aang jumped into the conversation with the Fire Lord, talking with words Katara didn't understand. State terminology wasn't something Katara had learned about.

She knew theoretically that the Fire Lord and she had been friends before getting together, but she only got to know him now as her partner. As someone she was meant to share her life with, and so she was looking at him like that. She liked to see how well he got along with her friends and family. Of course, all of them were his friends, too, but it was really something she had always wished for in a partner. It looked like he fit into her life. But would she fit into his? And what about her Dad and GranGran? Did they like him?

The way he interacted with all of them showed her the most how much he changed. She wondered if she could now start separating Prince Zuko and Fire Lord Zuko as Prince Zuko and simply Zuko.

At the moment, he was wearing the most casual clothing she had ever seen on him. Red pants with black boots, a red tunic with a brown vest over it. He looked like a completely normal Fire Nation man, the most human Fire Nation clothed man Katara thought she had ever seen. Of course, the servants in the palace wore only simple things, too, but this was the Fire Lord's going out outfit. She liked how normal he looked. He wasn't the prince from seven years ago, nor the current Fire Lord. With his hair down, the casual clothing, and his mouth spreading in a grin, when Toph sneaked a piece of meat off Sokka's plate, he seemed simply like a twenty-three year old man who was enjoying an evening with his friends.

For their way back, they would walk along the lake, although Sokka and Toph would rather fly back to the palace. They complained they were both tired.

Aang put on a forceful face. "But a walk along the lake is nice. Especially in the evening. It's romantic!" he hissed at them, not subtly at all nodding at Katara and Zuko.

She blushed at the thought of doing anything romantic with Zuko.

"So what? No one wants…" Sokka trailed off, as he glanced at Katara.

She took a deep breath to cool her cheeks down.

"Oh," Sokka noticed.

Yeah. Her friends and brother were idiots. But she had always known this.

A walk along the lake sounded pretty romantic in her ears, but she sure as tsunami wasn't ready to do that with Zuko. Her friends probably thought it would be easier for her if they walked with them. They didn't get that it would make the situation just tense and embarrassing.

"Katara," Zuko spoke softly.

"Yes?" She looked up at him, hoping her blush had disappeared. To her surprise she found his cheeks with a pink tint to it. Huh.

"If we're going to walk along the lake, you should apply the lotion against millipede mosquitoes again. I, uh, brought some with me." His voice sounded nervous and strained, leaving her wondering.

"O-Okay." She nodded. "Well, if we're going to walk along the lake, I think I would like to waterbend a bit there. Is that allowed?" she quickly asked, remembering that bending the water of the spirit oasis had actually not been allowed, but she still had been forced to do so. The memory immediately brought forth thoughts about Zuko attacking her. Blinking, she shoved them back.

He laughed shortly and quietly, a surprised laugh that showed her he considered her question crazy. "Yeah," he said, still with laughter in his voice. "It is allowed."

"Tha… Er, okay. So, it's not a sacred lake, then?"

He smirked at her. "You'll find there actually are very few sacred waters in the Fire Nation."

"But… Is it preserved to the royal family only?" she probed.

He shook his head. "No. The park as well as the lake is both accessible to all people working at the palace. When it gets very hot during the dry period, the servants, cooks, maids and ministers alike go there to cool. It sometimes looks like you're at the beach. There is a constant flow of fresh water, so it's always okay to swim in it."

"Oh. That sounds nice. When is the dry season?" Katara grabbed herself a plate with sliced fruit, their dessert, for she had already eaten enough rice and fish.

"It's actually now. Almost over, though, so it isn't as hot as it was before. But we could still go to the lake once, if you'd like to," he quickly added, his gaze falling on the orange piece of fruit Katara brought to her lips.

She nodded at him, before quickly licking over the pulp. She had never seen a fruit like this, and it smelled intoxicatingly sweet.

"What's this called?" she asked.

"A honeydew melon," he said with an odd voice.

"It smells great. Sweeter than mango," she mused, before taking a small bite.

It was different from mango, but had something else extremely addictive to it. It almost tasted richer and heavier.

Zuko snorted. "You only remember mangoes from the Earth Kingdom. The best mangoes grow here. They taste totally different and way better."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "With the way you try to make everything I've experienced in the Earth Kingdom bad and say it's better in the Fire Nation…"

His eyes widened, before he frowned at her. "No! I value the Earth Kingdom! They have other very delicious things, but the Fire Nation is situated between the tropics. Mangoes are a tropical fruit, and there aren't many places in the Earth Kingdom where they can grow such things. And the most beautiful flowers also bloom in the tropics. The Earth Kingdom… Well, they have larger landscapes. More mountains. They look nice. And the savannah, of course. Potatoes, rice, grain, and apples from the Earth Kingdom are better than from the Fire Nation. After the war, we traded for these goods, instead of just taking them." He shook his head, frowning, almost at himself, before he shrugged.

Katara hid her smile behind the melon. She hadn't really meant it before, as she thought she knew him already well enough to be sure he was sincere in his assurance he didn't think the Fire Nation was superior to all the other nations. But the way he had wanted to defend himself was cute. He had nodded to himself, had obviously thought about what to say, and grimaced after every awkward utterance.

"It's okay. I didn't really mean it before," she assured him, before taking a huge bite of the melon. She suppressed a groan because of the sweet juices and sucked a bit, which made an odd sound. Chewing and swallowing, she let go of the melon with a mpwah sound, licking her lips. "I hope you were saying the truth, because now I really want to try a mango from here." She looked up at him, seeing him looking intently at her, his eyes almost a bit wide, the golden colour burning, as she thought his pupils were a bit blown.

Her mouth, covered in melon juice, opened to ask him what was wrong, but she faltered.

"Hey!" Sokka called from her other side.

Katara turned around to see her brother angrily narrowing his eyes at Zuko. "You said you wouldn't…"

"I didn't do anything!" Zuko objected, and when Katara looked at him, she saw his hands were turned up to show innocence.

Toph snorted. "Even I know what you were thinking, and I'm blind!"

"That…" Zuko stopped before snapping "You can sense other things! And… it wasn't like you…"  
"Gimme that!" Sokka growled and snatched away Katara's melon.

"Hey! I wanted to eat that!" she complained.

"No. Oh no. There's no more eating fruits for you in front of Zuko!" Sokka decided, nodding to himself.

"Sokka…" Zuko started, sounding annoyed.

"NO!" Sokka shouted, his arm shooting forward, pointing at the Fire Lord. Katara quickly leaned back against her rest to not be hit in the face by her brother's elbow. "You keep your mouth shut! Completely! Is that clear?"

"You're being ridiculous. It's not like I can control it. I'm not doing anything, though. How is this not enough?" Zuko argued, now sounding angered and heated.

Katara leaned further back, still having no clue what they were talking about.

But Sokka ignored Zuko and turned to Katara again. "Listen. You shouldn't eat anything juicy or saucy in front of Zuko, or something you have to suck on. Or things you consider delicious. Or ash banana formed things. Or eggs. Or sausages. Or noodle soup, because you have to slurp them."

"Come on Sokka. You're just listing things that turn you on, when Suki does them, right?" Aang asked cheekily, his grin so wide that it made him look like he was twelve again for a moment. His words, though, didn't fit with innocent, little Aang.

Sokka spluttered about what he wanted to say, and while Aang and Toph high fived each other, while they were musing about other disgusting food related things that turned Sokka on when Suki did them, and Sokka trying to deny everything, it slowly began to dawn on Katara what this had been about.

Shortly, she glanced at the melon now lying on Sokka's plate, and then shortly at Zuko, who had put his face in his hands, his elbows supported on the table. Her eyes widened, as she wondered if he was upset over what Sokka said.

Biting her lip, she felt the urge to comfort him, because that was just how she was, but at the same time, she felt incredibly nervous at thinking about touching his back. She still managed to stroke it. "Hey. Are you okay?" she asked, concern obvious in her voice.

He let out a dry chuckle, before slowly shaking his head, groaning, and then looking up at her. He seemed to be embarrassed.

"Katara!" Sokka screeched, pulling her arm away from Zuko.

"What?" she snarled at him, having enough of Sokka interrupting her or stealing her dessert. She had wanted that dessert, and she had been completely oblivious to what sucking on the fruit apparently had let Zuko to think about, and she would have been content with staying oblivious and finishing her dessert!

"Don't willingly offer physical touch!" Sokka hissed. "It might let him to…"

"Oh, fucking shut it, Sokka!" Zuko growled, and Katara flinched, grimacing.

"Don't say the f-word in her presence. She's too young for that," Toph teased, earning a stern gaze from Aang, but being rewarded with Katara's cheeks flushing and eyes widening.

"I'm not too young for the f-word! I can say it all the time! F-word, f-word, f-word!" She bristled, throwing her hair over her shoulder, one eyebrow twitching.

"This is not how the f-word works, Katara," Sokka whispered.

Annoyance and anger raised again in her. "I know, and I don't care! Stop treating me like a child for tsunami's sake! Give me back my dessert!" she growled, noticing how her nerves were too strained from a full day of an overprotective, worrying brother, a teasing girl, and an overly confusing Fire Lord. The only one she wasn't angry at was Aang.

Sokka had maintained his wisdom from yesterday and did as she asked him to.

"Hey, Zuko," Aang whispered, leaning over to his friend.

Katara's fiancé raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I think you should ask the healers tomorrow if mood changes can be a byeffect of amnesia."

Well, now she was angry with Aang, too. Sucking forcefully on her melon, she glared at him, as Toph chuckled, shaking her head.

"Oh, Twinkletoes. You know Sweetness is always like this."

oOo

On their way back to the palace, there were again guards following them with a distance of several metres. There had been four at the restaurant, but now there were only two. Katara wondered why Zuko needed any guards. Wasn't he untouchable as a head of state? Wasn't he the most powerful firebender in the world? And what is more, wasn't there peace now? So why would the Fire Lord need any guards?

He himself seemed to want to distract her through showing her different plants, flowers, trees, ducks, and dragonflies on the way. Katara felt pretty surprised that he knew the names of all those.

The sun had already set, but the sky was still light, the few clouds shining in pink and orange, looking beautiful. There was a warm wind blowing, and Katara wished she could have simply enjoyed her surroundings without all the worries in her head. The water of the lake was indeed clean, and many flowers were blooming on the surface.

Katara freaked out a bit. Flowers! Growing on water! Whaaaaat?

"Those are water lilies," Zuko rushed to explain. "Their roots are down in the earth, and their stem grows to the surface, where it produces leafs and blossoms. Those larger ones, over there, the pink ones, are lotus flowers." He pointed at them, growing close to where the shore was built into a patio, stone slabs covering the ground and a railing, made of white stone with lotus and fire embellishments, surrounding it.

"Wow!" Katara breathed.

The magic didn't stop.

When Katara was done observing and admiring one thing, another interesting or beautiful thing appeared. Now, the air was full with glowing insects! They were glowing! Like… the sun, or the moon, or stars! And they were just insects! They were called fireflies.

Sokka and Aang were hovering around her and Zuko, making sure she felt comfortable the whole time. She didn't want to be completely alone with him, or even simply a few paces behind her friends, but having his whole attention didn't bother her as much.

They were still walking close to each other, and Katara noticed that every once in a while, Zuko was leaning closer to her. It made her nervous every time, but it didn't seem like he would want anything else than walk close to her. The thought actually made her smile. It seemed like something about him that was good.

Just as she thought that, she noticed that Zuko was not only leaning close to her. He inhaled close to her. He caught her scent, he seemed to sniff her.

She tensed. Okay, that was creepy. Shooting him a quick glance, she moved a few centimetres away from him, hoping he wouldn't notice too much.

But Toph seemed to have noticed, as she raised an eyebrow at Katara. Her foot sense was still something weird. She tried to ignore the earthbender.

Which was very difficult, because Toph's eyes suddenly widened as if she had realised something, and that's when she started to laugh as if she had heard the funniest joke in the world.

Katara flushed, although she was pretty sure that she hadn't done anything that would make Toph laugh that much. Sokka, Aang, and Zuko seemed confused, and Toph refused to tell them what she was laughing about.

"You would thank me if you knew!" she explained, still giggling.

It still made Katara feel uneasy.

After Katara had gone into the lake and bent some water to calm down her nerves, she looked Zuko directly in the eyes. "I've been meaning to ask why this restaurant didn't look fancy. I mean, you're royalty, shouldn't your private room in there look more like… well, like part of a palace?"

Zuko's eyebrow rose, as he regarded her with a sort of surprised curiosity. He was standing three metres away, far enough for him not to sniff her again. She hoped he wouldn't ever do that again!

"It used to look a little fancier… But one of the first things I did as Fire Lord after all of the war reparations were handled, was to get rid of overtly worshipping or embellishing stuff. All of Ozai's statues in all Fire Nation towns, everything too nationalist, and everything too extravagant in the palace. I like things practical and elegant. Not extravagant. Some of my taste must have flowed to the people. Although I'm not asking to be worshipped like Ozai, Fire Nation citizens always adapted to the taste, style, and peculiarities of the Fire Lords before. What I do becomes "in" or "trendy". Sokka has been trying to use me for advertisement for his machines for years," Zuko pointed out, in a dry tone.

Sokka grinned. "And I managed to make you help me every time!"

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "Katara mostly threatened me into helping you, and you already have Aang and Uncle for advertisement!"

Katara's mouth formed an o. So she talked Zuko into something he didn't want to do? Why? Because he loved her? Because he actually wanted to do it but didn't want to admit it?

"Hey, Sokka. About that…," Aang said hesitantly, pressing his fingertips together and worrying his thumbs. "The council of the United Republic thinks it would be better if I kept my image more serious in the future. So there can't be any more paintings of me with your weird machines."

Sokka's jaw went slack. "What?!"

Toph snorted. "That council is bullshit."

Zuko threw her a glare, but frowned at that, too. "Honestly, Aang. I do think they have a point when it's about riding random animals, because that's dangerous, and it would suck if you would be killed, because the world needs you right now. We don't need a new Avatar, and you're still young. But I wouldn't listen to the council regarding Sokka's machines. Besides, you don't have to listen to them at all. You're the Avatar. Until now, you've always been there when you were needed, your choices always seemed to be right, and you could let your more childlike, fun loving side out of these things." Zuko shrugged. "As long as you do not take to waving your butt in your adversary's face and mocking them again, you'll do well. That's only my humble opinion as young and inexperienced head of state of a governmentally old-fashioned ruled nation, of course," he added, almost in a drawl, definitely with a sarcastic, and maybe even annoyed undertone.

Toph rolled her eyes. "Come on, that's the real and only reason you don't like the Council of the United Republic. They undermine you. But you think they're right regarding Aang."

Aang looked at Toph, as if she had betrayed him, while Sokka seemed to simply enjoy the show.

Zuko bristled. "Okay, yes, I don't like them. They're stuck up, old people, who think they know everything, but they are all from the colonies, and they have been largely protected from the war for sixty years! They have no idea about what the war was really like, or about how ending it had influenced the Fire Nation! In some things, I have more experience than them! But I still think Aang should keep advertising for Sokka."

"You do?" Aang asked, looking surprised, but extremely grateful, too.

Zuko nodded. "Of course."

Katara tried to follow the conversation. Really, she did. But although she understood what everything was about, she didn't know anything about it. She couldn't say anything about it. She felt like a stranger among her friends. Someone who actually didn't know them. And maybe she really didn't.

Taking a deep breath, she knew what she could do about it. She would read the diary again.

oOo

_23__rd__ FE, 101 AG_

_The last few days have been so thrilling! The Earth King, Zuko, and Aang try to figure out what to do with Yu Dao, and Sokka and I get to sit in the meetings, too. Those politics experts are fascinating! The theories they have presented, and the different forms of states! It's incredible!_

_Of course, I'm the only one listening, and after the presentations I always have to tell Aang and Zuko what it was actually about. _

_Zuko is better again. The time with his uncle seemed to have helped him and he doesn't look so thin anymore. I took up the habit to sit with him after dinner. I thought he might talk to me, but it took him a while to really say everything that was on his mind. When we returned to Yu Dao, I still tried to do that, but he's too busy here. Too busy making plans with Aang. I can't believe I'm jealous of my own boyfriend over a mutual friend. _

_A few days, though, Zuko started being more taciturn again. He always thinks about something, and I think it has to do with what he said to Aang two days ago. His family. I wish Iroh would stay in the Fire Nation with Zuko, so that he would at least have one loving family member with him, but Zuko doesn't want to ask Iroh to stay with him. He says Iroh deserved to live in peace after everything he had done. _

_I wish that could be said about all of us. I wish none of us were important people. I wish we could have just ended the war, and then moved into some tiny village, where we would live peacefully for the rest of our lives. _

_We've already ended the war. Someone else should try to heal the world now. _

_But Zuko is still eating well. _

_36__th__ FE, 101 AG_

_Wow. _

_Just wow. _

_I have met the mother of faces! The spirit who designs all faces of humanity! She made my face before I was born! It was incredible, and she was a really nice spirit! The only encounter I had had with spirits so far was when Hei Bai kidnapped Sokka, or when the water spirit fused with Aang and destroyed the Fire Navy. And the mother of faces actually grants one wish to a human per season._

_She lives in this forest outside of a Fire Nation town called Hira'a. It's where Zuko's mother is from. She went back there after Ozai banished her, and the mother of faces gave her a new face, but also a new mind. _

_She didn't recognise Zuko, when we met her, and he couldn't recognise her. He thought looking for her would make him happier. Iroh said Zuko might find peace. And also Azula. _

_Because Azula had to come with us. She was the only one who knew where their mother is from, and she only wanted to tell Zuko, if he would let her come with us. Unchained, and with dignity. _

_Though that didn't go well. Azula is crazier than I thought. The institution didn't help her at all, it made everything worse. Azula is convinced her mother plotted against her since she was a baby! She thinks that's how I defeated her on the day of Sozin's comet. _

_So, she tried to kill Ursa. Zuko stopped her, but then Azula ran into the forest. We haven't found her. _

_I really don't care much about her, but I know it pains Zuko. He feels like he let her down. I think finding his mother made him want to have his family back. He hopes Azula could change and could be trusted. I see the way he looks at Sokka and me. He wants that, too. _

_Well, at least we found his mother. She has her old face and mind back now, because the spirit gave them back to her. Zuko even has another little sister. His mother had another daughter while she was away. _

_We met these siblings from the Northern Water Tribe, who also searched for the spirit, and I would have wanted to talk longer to them, but they had been away from home for decades. The brother had lost his face to Koh, who Aang had already met. Koh is the mother of faces' son. He steals faces and transforms humans into living shells. The brother didn't eat, nor sleep. It's creepy. _

_Aang told me Koh once took the face of someone he loved. In another life._

_We stayed with Ursa and Noren for a while, as no one really knew what to do. We looked for Azula, and Ursa and Zuko talked. _

_It's incredible that he found his mother again. I'm very happy for him. Envious, of course, too. But so happy. Ursa is really nice, and I think I understand now even better why Zuko is the way he is. _

_Earlier, he told me everything about Ursa. Everything that she told him about how she had ended up marrying his father, and what exactly had happened when she had had to leave the capital. _

_I thought before that Ozai was an evil man. Simply because he wanted to burn the Earth Kingdom down, because he raged war on the world, because he burned his son, and because he raised his daughter to be a psychopath. But after everything I heard now, I wish Aang would have killed that bastard. He doesn't deserve to live, and he surely doesn't deserve to see Zuko ever again. I tried to make him promise not to visit Ozai again, because he's not worth being on Zuko's mind. When Zuko contemplated him, it's like Ozai still won something out of this. Like he still has power over him. _

_Zuko didn't make that promise. He said he knows what Ozai's real intentions are. He said he will be more careful next time, but that he can't just forget his father. He wished he could. He sometimes even wished Ozai was dead. That Aang had just killed him. But he also said that he wouldn't let Ozai have any more power over him. Ozai would have wanted to keep Yu Dao in possession of the Fire Nation, but that was wrong and Zuko knows that. That's not the Fire Lord he is. The Fire Lord he wants to be for his nation and the world._

_I hugged him when he said that. Sometimes I still can't believe how far he's come and how much he changed. Once, the fate of the world hadn't mattered to him at all, only his title, and now… _

_Zuko had spent most of the time with Ursa, so Aang, Sokka, and I have entertained Kiyi (Zuko's sister) and Noren, her father. We've told Noren everything we know about Zuko and that he didn't need to worry about what would happen to his family, as Zuko will care for them and protect them. Noren was worried, as he had feared for years that Ozai would suddenly stand in front of his door and demand to have Ursa back. _

_But Zuko didn't actually know what to do about this family. _

_I thought they should come with Zuko to the capital. It would do him good to have well-meaning, loving people around him who don't care for status and power. Kiyi doesn't go to school yet so it wouldn't disrupt her life that much. There aren't even any children her age around. _

_But Noren would have to leave his theatre group. He says whatever Ursa wants, he would be okay with it. They had lived the life he had wanted for them for almost eight years. _

_I don't think I would be okay if Ursa decides to stay here. I know Zuko wouldn't mind, as he's simply happy that his mother is alive and has a good life, but I don't think it should be enough. _

_Yesterday, I talked to Ursa before we returned to our campsite. Their house isn't big enough for the four extra people, but she insisted on having Zuko sleep in there._

_Ursa asked me about the South Pole, about my family, my travels, and how I met Zuko. I didn't want her to have a bad image of her son, so I didn't go into detail about our first meeting. But I told her that I know that he needs her. Even when we were enemies, he had talked about her. Tears welled up in her eyes, when I said that._

_She nodded and told me she needed him, too, but that she's scared to go back to the capital. For her, it's the worst place on earth, I imagine. _

_I don't have a place like that, but I told her that I always imagined the Fire Nation to be ugly and horrible. That the fire palace would be made of ashes and lava. Although my imagination had clearly exaggerated, it's still pretty oppressing at the palace. But Zuko makes sure that it's friendly. Nothing seems oppressive anymore. Apart from the Royal Gallery, there aren't even portraits of Ozai anymore. But instead, there is sunlight, beautiful paintings of dragons, flowers, and plants everywhere. Zuko didn't want to live in the same place he had lived with Ozai, too. _

_Ursa nodded with a sad smile, but she would try it. _

_Today then, she told Zuko she would come with him. Maybe for a while, maybe for forever. _

_That smile on his face… I've never seen him look so happy. Actually, I haven't seen him anyhow happy in a long while. _

oOo

Katara's mouth stood open. What?

A spirit that formed faces and could take your memory away?

If this diary wasn't written in her hand writing, she would not believe a word about what had been written in there.

The weirdest thing was Zuko, though. Of course, she also read this diary to find out why and how she had fallen in love with him, but if she had calculated correctly, she would have been sixteen when they found Ursa. And she had become a couple with Zuko at the age of seventeen. So how was it that she almost only wrote about him in her diary? Had she already fallen for him back then? While she had been together with Aang? She couldn't believe that.

It felt wrong, and as if she hadn't been a good girlfriend to Aang. Maybe she hadn't even noticed back then that she wrote so much about Zuko.

However, she knew the diary would soon tell her about her break up with Aang. She didn't know if she wanted to read this. Of course, they had already talked about it. But her relationship with Aang was something she had known could be possible. And now it felt like it had been taken from her. Like someone had taken the opportunity from her to even be with him before she could even find out how she felt about it.

Sighing, she laid the diary back on her nightstand and eyed the door. This evening, she had not closed the curtains of the bed, as she hadn't liked the feeling of it still being dark, when she had woken up this morning.

She wondered what Zuko was doing. Was he still working? Reading something? Or was he already asleep?

Whenever she would allow him to sleep in this bed again, that's when she would find out what he did before he slept.

oOo

The girl bent over the news from their source in the palace. She frowned. "How can that be? How can the water witch still be there?"

The older woman frowned at the note. "This is quite unsettling."

But the man with the moustache snatched the letter away and threw it behind him. "Well, they can't really announce the end of their betrothal right away now, can they? I expected that it would take some time."

The girl pouted. "But then what was the point in making her lose her memories?"

The man rolled his eyes and slapped her over the head. "Patience, stupid girl. They will end their betrothal. They cannot get married like his. She can't be his wife like this."

The woman tapped her chin. "I guess they would first try to convince her, and then… Well, there has to be a reason why this takes so long."

The man nodded. "Exactly. But the water witch will not influence our Fire Lord for long. She hates him now. And even if they convince her to try to like him, he will start to hate her, for she's not who she was before." He laughed.

"And then he'll finally be free!" the girl exclaimed.

The woman sighed. "I just hope this was enough. I really don't want to make her lose more memories. The procedure was so gross last time." She shuddered.

"If you've done it just as I said, then it should be okay," the man said.

"So any day now, they will see that it's hopeless. Any day now, one of them will have enough. And when this happens, we will be able to kill the water witch!"

* * *

_Dun dun duuun!_

_Phew, finally some plot. _

_I've never before written such a scene about the antagonists. It was okay, I guess. Normally, I keep the scenes only about the main characters and also only from their POVs. _

_Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't forget to review! :D_


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